Live Ridiculously

Live Ridiculously

Boy, for the most part, we humans get it wrong, perhaps more than we realize. We don’t live ridiculously very much, do we? I surely don’t. Here’s a scenario I saw today right after church which I will use to explain myself.

I drove past a popular and busy Dog/Spa Kennels. As I passed by, I noticed that there were approximately 50-60 dogs outside in a large fenced in play area. I slowed down significantly to take the sight in. It was a wonderfully heartwarming sight that clearly drove home the key point of the message for today—that we should live ridiculously. I saw dogs of all sizes, breeds, colors, genders, styles of grooming, ages, looks, and I assume backgrounds. There they were—all romping together, tails wagging, happy, and yes, being ridiculous and ridiculously happy.

It was obvious that none of them bothered categorizing (I call it thin-slicing when we humans do it), showing resentments, showing anger, or showing anything other than total acceptance of each other. All I saw was doggie love at work despite being surrounded by so many marked many differences.

We humans aren’t very good at that kind of “doggie love” are we? Isn’t it a shame that we are prone, due to our humanness and the sin within us, to categorize others based on their differences? It’s those who don’t quite fit into our little box of what’s “normal” who we tend to shy away from or have little to do with. It’s our “normal” to easily get angry or upset with others (and often express it in inappropriate ways) when things don’t go “our way” or opinions differ. It’s often our “normal” to seek that upper hand, that somehow winning is everything. It’s often our “normal” to run off at the mouth even though we later realize we can never retract those words.  Nope, we aren’t very good at that kind of “doggie love”. We don’t do well at living ridiculously do we?

Jesus modeled living ridiculously for us throughout His time on earth. God, through His Word, consistently shares with us how to live ridiculously since the time of Adam and Eve were first mentioned. Perhaps we need those great reminders, such as that “doggie love” example of today to remind us that we have some work to do. I did.