Life is Easier Without, but Greater With
Life May Seem Easier Without it, but Life is Far Greater for Having it.
Mary Anne and I recently went through a scary experience with our little dog Layla. This started after discovering that she had found, opened, and consumed and unknown number of iron pills. We were immediately alarmed as iron can be quite poisonous and potentially fatal for dogs. We caught her soon after consumption and made her throw-up within the hour, spoke with numerous veterinarians, consulted poison control, waited on tests and faced numerous decisions, but I will save you from the nitty-gritty details. I think in all of it, the two greatest bits of help were that we got Layla to throw up within the hour using 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and that we called animal poison control (which does cost a pretty penny but it saved us more).
For a period of time, Layla was under 24-hour observation at an animal hospital. After a stressful and harrowing night waiting on information from the emergency veterinarians in the waiting area, I remember coming home sometime around midnight exhausted and trying to process everything in my mind. In my exhaustion, I suddenly had this realization: “Well at least you don’t have to take Layla out for a walk tonight”. I understand in hindsight that this thought sounds quite crude, but to my tired self, I thought this would be a welcomed relief. The interesting reality is that it was not a relief. As much as I knew this could mean going to sleep 15-30 minutes earlier and not needing to wake up early for a morning walk, my heart, mind, and tired body did not care. I understood that life would be easier without Layla, but I did not want life to be easier if it meant being without her, even for just one night or two.
I began to realize that this is the exact same feeling we should have for one another and ultimately for everyone in this world. Layla is completely fine now, but it is sad that it often takes sickness or death to remind us of the value and joy that we bring to one another, despite potential inconveniences or difficulties that relationships may bring. A dog does add to our lives in some special ways, but as humans we are called to build each other up to an even greater extent.
Relationships are not always easy. They demand something of us. Sometimes it is something that we already want, but if we are really close to one another a relationship will place demands on our time, energy, money, and lives, even when we aren’t willing to give it or when we don’t seem to have anything to spare. Yet, as much as this is true, relationships also add to our lives, and the more intimate and self-giving the better. If we really think about it, this is the only way we have ever come to be. How would a newborn baby ever survive if it wasn’t for someone willing to give of themselves in an intimate and sacrificial way (I’ll dig into this more another time with our own baby on the way)? Giving and self-sacrifice is the DNA that is built into our very creation, and it is these types of mutually self-sacrificial relationships that make our lives richer.
The same concept is reflected in the Gospel. What we see there is that there are many people who think it is a lot easier to live without God, especially without Him as their Lord, as they don’t want Him dictating how they should live. We read about others who think it is easier to reject God as their Savior, because accepting Him would require admitting they were wrong, and that they need someone else. Yet God knows that we need a relationship with Him. God knows that it is through an intimate relationship with Him that our lives can become worthwhile, meaningful, and great. Sometimes external things or even we ourselves can convince us that it is easier to live without God, but the reality is, this isn’t true. Even if that were the case, we shouldn’t want life to be easier because our lives are far greater for having God with us and for being part of this church where we can build each other up.
