There is a concluding prayer in Compline I have always loved.
Keep watch, dear Lord, with
those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over
those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary,
bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and
all for your love’s sake. Amen. (BCP, p. 134)
I love the thought that the church is praying for those who work or watch or
weep through the need as well as for those who sleep. The sick, the
weary, the dying, the suffering, and the afflicted are never far from the
church’s care or God’s.
The last petition, to shield the joyous, has always seemed a bit strange to
me. At first glance it does not seem like the others, which are all some
situation of need, sometimes great need. Shielding the joyous seems
different to me. It has been something I’m not sure I have
understood. Until now. Now I get it.
My tutor for the need to shield the joyous is our new puppy, a black Labrador
Retriever named Georgia (Annie is fine, by the way, although at 14, slowing
down). Georgia is almost nine months old. We’ve had her since
March. And for many of the days during these seven months, we have
thought Georgia was a huge mistake.
As puppies will do, Georgia has unbridled energy and is being cared for by two
people without it. If we don’t make sure she gets the exercise she needs,
we pay a high price. We take her to the dog run in the park for
self-preservation and a break.
Georgia’s enthusiasm is boundless. She runs around our living room as if
it were her playground, jumping from floor to sofa to chair to floor and then
running around behind them all. Nothing makes her happier than to destroy
a newspaper or magazine. Our apartment looks like a hamster cage.
She has a fondness for Ginger’s clothes (fortunately, not mine so much, except
undershirts). She landed in the doghouse so to speak for eating Ginger’s
glasses. She finds playing keep away to be hilarious fun, taking
something she shouldn’t have, often a shoe, and racing around the room while we
try to take it back. We’ve learned to erect barricades so we can trap
her. I may not have her energy, but I’m smarter than she is. I
think.
In all of her exuberance she also a tendency to get into more serious
trouble. It is not uncommon for me to have to pry something potentially
harmful out of her mouth. Somehow in all her bouncing off the walls she
injured her ACL. (The vet prescribed strict rest. I know you’re
kidding, I said.)
There was the day she pulled herself out of her collar while we were on vacation
in North Carolina. It took her a minute to realize what had happened, but
when she did, she took advantage of her new-found freedom and ran straight for
the road.
Fortunately it is a small town. I flagged down oncoming traffic so that I
could catch her. People waited patiently in their cars while I chased her
from one side of the road to the other. Finally, I asked one of the
drivers to open his back door. Only then was I able to grab her as she
made a break to the getaway car. Puppies are fast.
No harm done, thanks be to God, but it makes shielding the joyous make sense to
me. Exuberant puppies know nothing of danger. Excitement knows
nothing of being guarded. Joy does not shield itself. It’s up to
those who love the joyous to do that.
So now the prayer to shield the joyous makes sense to me. And the one
about giving rest to the weary has fresh meaning, too. All for the sake
of love. Amen.
Peace,
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