Divine Residue

Humans have always been set apart in the animal kingdom with the distinct ability to outwardly contemplate and question their own existence as well as express with flying colors the extremes of human emotion. This last weekend I was once again reminded of the obvious bar code that God has imprinted within the human spirit. I am struck and humbled at how people have within themselves something indescribable - a divine residue above and beyond the autopilot self-interest of an animal that evolved to do such things as walk upright, speak, work, build, pro-create, etc. Compassion, empathy, good will and love of thy stranger and enemy are characteristics of the spirit that remain displaced in a world of bigger, better, faster, more, ME. But somehow, just a little of this divine residue can have lasting effects and possibly...hopefully...a snowball effect. We are designed and engineered with true characteristics of the divine. I do not argue against the fact that these feelings / emotions are required of evolutionary propagation of the species and positive social structure, but rather I find it indicative that the divine INCLUDES these evolutionary processes within the divine feelings / emotions that we exhibit. Those gears are gears that are required to work together. God is a brilliant Chief Engineer.

I was watching TV and a commercial came on for the BC SPCA - an Animal Anti-Cruelty and Rescue Association - which had Sarah McLachlan's song Angel playing in the background (see this commercial). I absolutely couldn't handle it and the combination of seeing the poor shaking dogs and hearing Sarah's heartfelt song overwhelmed me to a waterfall of tears. Later that day, I happened to catch the last 15 minutes of the movie The Color Purple, which is a movie about the difficult and oppressed lifelong plight of a black woman during the early and mid 1930's that has never EVER failed to move me to tears. And this time was no different. I felt like I wanted to reach through the screen and pull Whoopie Goldberg's character out to me, to just squeeze her so tight and rock her like a baby. Later that night an episode of Extreme Home Makeover was on, in which the homebuilding crew built a new house for a soldier who had lost his leg in Iraq. He was a single dad with 4 kids to support who was having a hard time. All through the show as he cried, I cried, and in the end his new house and gratitude was just as overwhelming to me as it was to him. My day of crying for and with these animals and people who I have never met nor have any real attachment to emphasizes the otherworldly common bond of the human spirit.

Perhaps a deluge of such divine emotion cannot be contained, so it must go somewhere - exuding outward in the form of tears and energy compelled like a vile tipped over in the lab. That we can all relate (in differing degrees) to the divine feelings of compassion, empathy and projection of love is, for me, testimony to the real grace within us. They say there is love human and love divine. Human love demands and expects something in return, expects cooperation and equal share. Divine love is nothing like human love - divine love gives and gives without ceasing, with no expectation of gain or recognition. It loves for the sake of love, nothing more.