There is this guy who lives in my apartment complex with his golden retriever who comes out to play with the dog in the courtyard out my front window everyday. I like to watch him because he gets so much joy out of this simple activity. He likes to talk to people as they walk by on the sidewalk. My first thought was that he seemed like this lonely, single, middle aged man who lives with his dog in an apartment, but there is something comforting about the joy that he gets out of this simple companion. He lives in the building adjacent to mine and sometimes I see him on the deck across the way, still caring for the dog with a wide smile.

Today as I looked out the window at him, beaming as the yellow dog ran after the green tennis ball, I felt a little jealous of his simple pleasure.

I often think about how sometimes people do what they do in the world out of a mission towards the work of the kingdom but end up actually only perpetuating a system out of habit or convention rather than simply working towards the awakening towards realities that are a part of this kingdom.

It is easy to get displaced, isn't it? We tell each other that we must love because that is what we are supposed to do without actually considering the raw action of loving. It gets tangled up in other things.

We also get mixed up in labels a lot too. What he is doing isn't a part of God's Kingdom because he doesn't call himself a Christian. And yet, he is outside enjoying air made not by human hands, beaming at a dog running across some winter-sleeping grass. Love, joy, and peace are all realities for the man who likes to play with his dog-- I can see it all over his face. I don't know this man-- I only watch him from my window, but somehow he displays a few of the things that we are told come from the Spirit of God in us.

And yet, simultaneously, I watch him from my window, jealous that I do not feel these things. That it is difficult for me to take the luxury of a few minutes of my day simply to enjoy it in the midst of all my other work.