Dog and Butterfly

My senior year of high school was when the rock band Heart released the album Dog and Butterfly.  I played that album so much that I am surprised it did not become a scratched-up mess with shavings of black vinyl left on the floor.  The title song is lilting and easily touches a place in my heart, calling me to reach out and playfully try something new.  Being 17 years old, I naturally was trying out new things, new ways of being, preparing for the rest of my life.  What this song did was make that process lighter for me. 

We tend to make things so heavy, especially when we feel that it is defining us.  The butterfly in the song represents all of the hopes and dreams that I had.  Things that I could not even put words to, and yet they were confirmed in my heart.  Of course, the dog is me, jumping into the air, trying to snatch these beautiful things that I could see but not touch. 

The song says this:

See the dog and butterfly
Up in the air he like to fly
Dog and butterfly, below she had to try
She roll back down to the warm soft ground
With a little tear in her eye
She had to try, she had to try
Dog and butterfly, yeah

This Sunday’s talk title is “A Playful Pause,” and what I will be exploring is the need that we have to explore all that we are, even if we cannot ever grab ahold of it.  The way to do this is like the dog in the song.  Playfully jumping for the butterfly, only to fall back rolling in the soft ground and then get up and do it again.  That is life.  It is not the destination that is as important as the journey.  We all arrive at our final destination at the end of this lifetime, whether we try or not, and whether we succeed at anything in life or bumble our way through to the end.  What is essential for our soul is the journey that we go on before we come home again to prepare for go our next yet-to-be. 

So join me, and take on the attitude of the dog chasing the butterfly.  We are really about doing this life playfully, seeing the butterflies, and being willing to fly up at them.