There were not many people there - it was quite a tranquil bit of time. I was enjoying "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis when I noticed a girl spending time with her dog:
Over and over again she gesters with her hand as she says, "sit," and the dog obeys. Then the girl makes a different gester accompanied the request "stay." I say request because at no point does her dog have to obey. The dog is not bound by any tangible item, influenced by any substancial threat, or even guided by any notable restrictions. If at any moment the dog wishes to refuse, it can easily choose not to "sit" or not to "stay." I find it interesting that the dog actively decides to comply each and every time. Why is it complying?
I think that I get a hint into the why as I watch the rest of the girl's interaction with the dog. After the"sitting" and the "staying," the girl turns her back on the dog and walks away. The girl eventually reaches a point wherein she stops, turns back toward the dog, motions, and says "come." The dog complies once again, but this time it does so with gusto, moving with much more vigor and excitement then when complying to the other requests.
It becomes evident all at once that the dog has been complying all the while because it loves its master. The love prompts the compliance. Furthermore, the dog has trusted the master. Would the dog likely have "stayed" if it did not trust that the girl would have once again turned back for it? And both of these seem to support each other - how often do we love that which we cannot trust? (While it does happen, it is not as common)
What do you love? What do you trust? Ultimately the real question is, "what do you let train you?" I realized that the dog was responding to the commands because of love and trust, but what that eventually results in is a molding of the dog's character. What I mean is this: this dog was not necessarily bound to this girl but (in this case) because of love for the girl the dog decided to invest in her. What the dog decided to invest in is exactly what helped to form the dog. The more the dog invests emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally the greater the level of influence the girl has over the dog's life.
Drugs train people. Business trains people. Serving trains people. School trains people. A need for performance trains people. Dietary habits train people. God trains people. Disciplined work-out patterns train people. Failure to meet goals trains people. Success trains people. A desire to be wanted trains people. Loving others trains people. Many mindsets train people. Relationships train people.
Make no mistake about it: everything you do in life is an investment in something.
What is training you, and what will be the outcome of that training?
I do believe that there exist many "speed bumps" along the way though. In the amphitheater this dog did not like to get in the grass. It would walk along the concrete paths for as long as it could, and then at the moment it was forced to step down a level into the grass it would become immediately intentional about reaching the concrete on that level as soon as possible. What's more, it did not even like to step from one tier to another. I even imagine that the grass had many distracting bugs, flowers, and food scraps - from when those pesky students eat so darn sloppily.
Similarly, in many human cases I feel like people categorize "freedom" as a lack of training, when in fact freedom to follow whimsical desire is an inadvertent training like that of a distracted or fearful dog. There is still a consequence to acting on one's desires and therefore a training. The reason this seems so difficult for our culture to identify is because being "trained" by one's wants does not feel like being "trained" at all. It feels like appropriate control. This is the point: even acting on your desires yields some sort of consequence. Everything you do in life is an investment in something.
Do not fool yourselves into believing that you have somehow managed to "float" through life without really doing any harm or really changing anything. Investment yields fruit - that's just kinda how this whole thing works. I encourage you to be intentional about your investments so that you can be intentional about the fruit you yield.
For me, I am quite sure that I want my fruit to be geared specifically for the promotion of God's Kingdom and the renown of God's Glory, and that is exactly why I want to learn to love and trust my Trainer with everything. Only then will I be genuinely molded into what He has in mind for me. In this way when people see my walk they will see that I have purpose and passion. They will see that I have direction and have been equipped to do every good work that God has prepared for me. In light of training, what they will not see is me wandering distracted through the grass, fearing the different tiers in the amphitheater (because after all they do seem so big when you have not ben shown how to conquer them before), or making sure that my feet remain on the concrete - where life is safe and comfortable.
What is training you?
