Chicks dig babies and dogs…

May 1, 2007

Have you ever been out walking, noticed a dog, and stopped to play with it, and then realized you never once even looked at the owner in the eye? I did once, and when I looked back I saw look of disgust staring back at my blind eye.

A friend of mine came by a while back and jokingly asked if he could borrow Stellar… “Because chicks dig dudes with babies and dogs”

Lets break it down from a few angles.

Dude’s perspective. Why is it that we feel we need to accessorize ourselves for others to notice us? Could it be that somewhere down below I don’t think another human being would like me, just for me?

Chick’s perspective. Why is it that we have no problems giving direct and caring eye contact to babies and dogs? Could it be because we’ve been hurt by others in the past? Could it be because we know that dogs and babies won’t judge us? Or is it we who’ve judged, and ignored people because we see them as less than that? Less than God’s wonderfully divine creation. Less than the broken image of God longing to be restored. Less than beautiful?

Babies and dogs. When I look at my daughter, she is like neither of the above two. Stellar just is, the way she is. She doesn’t pretend or hold back feelings. She doesn’t judge and calculate whether you’re worth her time. The whole world fascinates her. She naively assumes the best of every person and that as another human being, you must care for her. Connecting and interacting with you, is her greatest joy.

Maybe this is why we’re drawn to babies and dogs. Though they may be raw and unrefined, we resonate with their authenticity. They just are the way they are.

And maybe if we were, the way we really were, we’d be more compelling, unique, and creative.

Imagine a community where people simply came as they are, flaws and all. Where they connected and interacted at the deepest levels of humanity. Where they actively helped one another become the unique person that God created them to be. That to me, is what the church ought to be.

A simple exercise we had in the class was to meaningfully finish the sentence -
“If you really knew me, you would know that…”

This is the closest photo I could find on the theme of today’s post. Ever seen The Neverending Story?

Posted in Culture, confessions, creativity, stellar, stories