When I was in second grade, my dad won a trip to Six Flags on the radio. I had never been, and the prospect left me lying awake at night. We were so very excited to go! My mom took me and my sister, and I remember staying from morning to night and soaking in as much fun as we could.
As we rode the tram out that evening, I still have a very clear picture in my mind of watching another park guest walk out with an invisible dog. Yes, an invisible dog. I saw him walking with the leash pulling along in front of him and I was simply dropped jaw with amazement. This seemed like the coolest pet ever. I was enraptured. How had I missed the opportunity to buy myself an invisible dog?
I'm not sure if I talked about the invisible dog often, or, if I ever even mentioned it at all. But my mind was set - next time I came to Six Flags, I'd be prepared. An invisible dog was in my future. I'd save up between now and then, and I'd come back ready.
Now, quite possibly you are reading this and imagining what a dumb kid I was. But to me, I was absolutely convinced of what I saw - or, in this case didn't see.
Some years went by and I had not forgotten the invisible dog. I went back to Six Flags with a friend and true to my word, I was prepared for my purchase. I looked from shop to shop as we strolled the park, with a single focus in mind. My invisible dog was out there, somewhere, waiting for me.
Finally, I found the right person to ask and she pointed me in the right direction, although with a bit of an odd look. I turned around to find a turnstile type merchandiser, with every hook filled with stiff leashes, formed to look like they were holding a dog at the end.
Honestly, I feel stupid saying it even now. But my heart welled inside me that I had not known. In all that time, I really believed. I had been disillusioned. There was no such thing as an invisible dog. Just stupid, hardened, pointless leashes that attached to nothing… except a small child's imagination.
When we take our children to Six Flags now, I still pass the point on the tram where I think of the invisible dog I thought existed. I told them the story this year and how much I had wanted something different to be true. It is just a story, just a memory jarred by location.
And yet, there is a powerful metaphor there as well.
Each of us has had our invisible dogs - some expectation or longing that we prepared ourselves for and came to no good end. The dogs didn't, in fact, exist. The job didn't pan out. The life wasn't spared. The friendship wasn't loyal. The truth never rose to the top. Disillusionment. I expect that every one of us has a moment where they've come face to face with a turnstile of pointless leashes.
But - that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Merriam-Webster defines "disillusionment" like this: "to free from illusion; also : to cause to lose naive faith and trust." TO FREE. To lose NAÏVE FAITH AND TRUST. We'll focus on that part.
To face our mirrors and find truth - that is a startling and jarring gift. Disillusionment - it beckons us to free ourselves from illusion. We're asked to give up naïve faith and trust - in order that we might *actually* have faith and trust. As my parents used to say, "Long live the truth! The truth will set you free!" It was a fun and simple mantra of sorts but I can still fall on it when the illusion falls away.
Finding the leashes for what they really were - a joke - changed a bit of the person I was inside. It was just such a silly thing, but I had put stake in it. I didn't know it was a joke, until I had invested some small portion of myself in it. In the end, I felt like the joke wasn't on me - but WAS me.
But THAT wasn't the truth.
The truth was to look carefully, see clearly, think cautiously, buy wisely.
And that part has been repeated in my life a million times sense.
In areas of life much tougher than amusement parks and parlor tricks, the truth will still set us free. Seeing things for how they really are - how they REALLY are - will open doors of freedom for us we might not have previously thought possible. It may be painful, but it will grow us up.
And if we're lucky, we won't be walking any longer in the wake of an invisible dog. Or, its invisible poop.
Amen.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I Corinthians 13
I once was blind, but now I see. - Amazing Grace
In Wisdom,
Brandi Calhoun Diamond
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