Pack Animals

Jackie​, and I just love our dogs so much. You can tell the season is changing. All summer long our dogs were on the floor for most of the nights in front of a fan, seeking coolness. . . now with the recent change of cooler evenings, they are snuggled as close as possible to us. . . both gaining and providing warmth. . .

Thinking of it, there are great advantages to being a member of a pack. . . to having friends, and family around us for mutual warmth. . . support and companionship.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. (10) For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (11) Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? (12) And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I have known several in my live who by choice lived very alone lives. I do not say lonely, for by external appearances they have not seemed to suffer from their lack of companionship, but they also have not seemed to lead very happy lives. They have tended toward being eccentrics. . . whether by cause or effect, I cannot tell, but that eccentricism seemed to progress and enhance as their years of aloneness persisted.

Wondering. . .no real evidence, but still wondering in my mind. . . an audio speaker, if given as input, its own output, enters into a feedback loop, where the sound becomes increasingly distorted and painful to hear. . .quickly losing its usefulness as a tool to enhance clarity. . . It seems to me, that the human mind also, if left alone. . . generating thoughts which are used then as input for more self thoughts without modification and feedback from another person. . . this loop seems to result in increasingly strange if not totally bizarre outlooks upon life.

In short, all evidence is that, on several levels we truly need one another. We need others in our lives. . . We need the fellowship, and companionship, and brotherhood of others around us. Women being social beings to their core, seem to get this, more than most men. In my own life, I need my wife Jackie to keep me plugged into my family and other people. I very much think without her, that I could easily become a naval gazer. . . an eccentric living in a cave, with a long beard, and strange unkempt ways.

I need my family. . .I need friends. . . I need my pastor. . . I need my brothers and sisters in church to fellowship with. . . to travel this journey with me. . . to lift me up when I stumble. . . to offer advice and warnings of dangerous paths. . . to help me pass through trials. . . to celebrate with me in times of joy.

I thank you my Lord for my family and friends which you have place in my life. . .
I love you my God.

Dave