God Is Our Prozac
For Life
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United, Aurora, CO 10/20/2013
Blessing of Our
Pets Worship
The
other evening I was watching “The Property Brothers”, the one “reality” show
that I find interesting. The stars of
the show are two brothers, one a realtor, the other is in design and construction,
together they help educate the buyers on how they can achieve buying their
dream home that falls within their budget, through purchasing a renovation
property. The buyers are first shown
the “turnkey” property that is their dream home, only to find that what they
want in a home will cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what
their budget will allow for.
Generally
the buyers are looking at homes within the city, but this particular show had
some buyers who were “horse” people and were looking for property out in the
country. What this program did for me,
was to take me back to memories of living out in the country. I was reminded about how peaceful the
countryside is compared to that of the city.
Much of my adult life has been spent living in major metropolitans, but
my childhood was spent in smaller rural communities and on farms.
There
is a difference in the energy level of those who live in the city verses those
who live out in the rural countryside.
When you are visiting with someone who lives in New York City, they talk
about a hundred miles per minute, where as when you are visiting with a farmer,
sometimes you almost have to pull the words out of their mouth. People in the city move much faster in their
walk, compared to those living on a farm; folks who live in the country setting
tend to understand that the pace of a stroll is not that of a speeding bullet.
I think one of the
most exciting cities in the United States is New York City. I love New York City, especially
Manhattan. When you walk down the
streets or stand at the center of Times Square, there is such energy present,
you can feel it electrifying your body.
Much different than when you take a walk through the wheat fields of
Kansas, or through an orchard in Washington State where the only sounds that
you hear is that of the wind rustling through the heads of grain or through the
leaves of the trees.
For
those of us who live in the city, we find a need to periodically to take time
out to go to the country or up into the mountains to chill out, where those who
live on farms or in small communities have less of a need to escape their
environment in order to relax, unwind, or reconnect, because they are already
living in an environment that provides that much needed nurture.
Jesus
tells us, “do not worry about what to eat, or drink, or even about what to wear;
look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
yet God feeds them.” When we
read the creation stories, we can gain a sense of how God made everything to
co-exist with each other; night with day, water with land, planet to solar
system, none exists by itself, but as parts of a larger system.
There is a deep
relationship between humanity, the land, and with the animal kingdom that city dwellers
often lose sight of. St. Francis of
Assisi’s, is considered the patron saint of understanding this relationship
between humanity, the animal kingdom, and of the world. Born into an aristocratic family, St Francis
had a revelation while battling in the crusades, realizing how foolish it was
to stress out over those things in life that really do not fulfill life; things
like the size of our homes, or what new electronic gadget do we need to buy to
keep up with our friends, or what are the latest fashions this year. All of these are important, but they are not
things that provide the true quality of life.
St
Francis realized that all of the things that we tend to stress over are things
that detract us from what we truly need to be focusing upon, that of communing
with God. He observed that life in the
animal kingdom was far less stress-filled than was life for humans. St Francis also understood the connection
that we as humans have with animals. A revelation
that we in the Twenty-First Century are beginning to discover is the healing effects
pets have for us. Assisted living
facilities are now allowing community pets on site, because these pets provide deep
companionship and much needed nurture for their residents. The majority of homes in this country have
some sort of animal that is more than just a pet; it is a member of the family.
All things have
been provide by God. We find renewal to
life when we go out into nature observing creatures as small as ants busy doing
ant business to watching elephants and hippopotamus walking in the grasslands
of Africa. Our spirits are renewed in
watching a humming bird feed or viewing an eagle soaring high in the sky. We find calmness in watching gold fish in our
ponds and excitement in seeing salmon jumping against the flow of the river as
it makes its way back to its breeding grounds.
God
provides for all of our needs and one of those ways can be found in our
pets. Our pets provide companionship, a
source of love, and entertainment to us.
Our pets are one of the ways in which we are able to stay connected to
nature. Our pets help remind us not to
stress over the daily cares of life, because in the end, God is the one who
truly has the ability to provide what we most need in life. We thank you God for what you provide and for
our pets who help us realize that at the end of the day all that we really need
is the ability to give love and receive love!
Amen
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