Joyful Abandon

It was cold when I went on my walk.
The temperature was in the 20’s.
With the wind chill, it felt like it was in the teens.

My breath was visible in the air.
But I didn’t mind.
I like the cold weather.

I’m one of those people you just can’t understand.
No sitting on the beach with a good book?
No enjoying the sweltering heat and humidity?

No thank you.
I will take my coat and my gloves and my scarf any day.
I feel more alive in the cold.

There is nothing better than sitting next to the fire, under a blanket and reading.
There is nothing more soothing than having a hot cup of tea right next to me.
There is something so cozy about being inside, all together.

As I was driving the other day, I came up to a traffic light.
It is a busy intersection and the wait at the light is usually quite long.
A car pulled up on my left; despite the cold, the driver opened the passenger side window.

Immediately, the most adorable dog stuck his face out of the open window.
He sniffed the air as the wind blew his ears back against his head.
I was one car back, so I was able to watch without being too conspicuous.

The light turned green and the driver started to accelerate.
I watched and waited to see the dog get back inside as the driver closed the window.
It never happened.

They went down the road with the window open.
The dog happily sticking his head out the passenger side window.
His ears seemingly taped to his head in the wind.

It made me smile.

For as far as I could see, down the road, the dog had his head out of the window.
The only word I could think of to describe the scene was: abandon.
Total abandon.

Experiencing the sheer joy of the moment.
Letting the wind blow through your hair (or your fur).
Journeying with abandon.

I drove on down the road and laughed at my thoughts.
A dog reminded me of joy.
Joy that gets buried beneath coats and gloves and scarves.

Joy that gets forgotten in the midst of propriety and status quo.
Joy that gets covered up in self-consciousness.
Joy that is always ready and willing to be shared.

I drove home thinking about why this mattered to me.
Why did the word abandon keep popping into my head?
Was there something in my own life that needed the freedom of an open window?

Abandon.
A little girl wearing a ballerina tutu and cowboy boots.
A little boy going to the store with his mom wearing his super hero costume.

I remember seeing a picture of a dad and his son in a home improvement store.
The little boy was wearing the cape of his favorite character.
Holding his father’s hand, they walked down the aisle; the father in a cape as well.

That touched my heart.
To the little boy, his dad was his hero, with or without the cape.
There was something about the father wearing a cape with his son that spoke to me.

I’m sure he got a few look and a few stares.
I’m sure they continued to walk hand in hand, father and son, joy abounding.
I’m sure.

Have we forgotten how to lay aside the stuffy adult that we are and play?
Have we forgotten the feel of the wind in our hair or the tea party on chairs too small?
When was the last time we got down on the floor and played with our children?

Really played.
Enter into their world for a while.
Talk in different character voices, slay the dragon, invite a princess to tea.

When was the last time?
If we can’t remember then it has been too long.
Packing them up and sending them off to college is not the time to recapture all of that.

Hopefully we have been depositing into their memory bank their entire lives.
Funny thing, when we deposit into their memory bank, we deposit into ours.
We are richer for it.

So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart…When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when He appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. (2 Samuel 6:12-16,20-22)

I will become even more undignified than this.
Are we abandoned in our worship of the Lord?
Are we stuffy and proper?

Have we forgotten what it is like to feel the wind in our hair and thank Him for it?
Do we, even for a moment, know what it is like to show joyful abandon?
Do we?

To think that a dog brought all this to mind as I waited at a traffic light.