I am always grateful to be able to give the latest update on Scout Labradoodle. One day there will be a sad post to share but for now, well on the way to thirteen, our girl is hanging in there and enjoying life one day at a time.

One thing she absolutely does not enjoy, however, is a photo shoot. Typically it goes like this:

• Me: “Looking good today, Scoutie. How about a selfie?”
• Scout: “Must. Fight. Paparazzi. Will. Not. Cooperate…”

That’s about when she sticks her nose in my ear or my armpit – or turns the other way. She has an uncanny ability to detect an approaching photograph and a resolute commitment to avoid the picture.

Friday evening we enjoyed a delightful dinner party at the home of one of our young families. Summer and Seamus have a one-year-old Australian Doodle and the rambunctious pup reminded us of just how much energy Scout had when Rebekah first brought her home in 2006.

But now, lying prone in one of her favorite spots near a heating vent, there is absolutely no bouncing going on. What I can see, however – and this is the point of this post – is energy of spirit. Her tail wags when we walk by, her eyes dance, her nose sniffs the air.

Sometimes in our experience of living we can slow way down and we are sidelined by age, or illness, or troubled relationships, or financial stress, or overwhelm at work. Our bodies can let us down and our minds can trip us up… but the place where we can constantly grow, always, is in terms of spirit.

Ultimately – and this is a great hope to each one of us as we approach the third stage of our lives – the spirit is all we are going to need. So it makes sense to take care of our spiritual nature above all else, to invest in its health, its nurture, its growth, its future.

Jesus put things in perspective when he said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

We are, as my Saturday men’s group read this morning in James, products of the truth of God’s word: “He gave us our new lives through the truth of His Word only because He wanted to. We are the first children in His family.”

“Energy of Spirit” – when there’s no other energy to go on!

– DEREK