It is widely rumoured that when the dog is away, the cats will play. I cannot attest to the veracity of this adage. In our household, the cat plays when it wants to, if it wants to, when you don’t want it to. Zed, my feline, does not care whether or not Mentor, our dog, is there or not. He is completely unconcerned about what her canine counterpart says about his capers. Nevertheless, while cats play regardless of the dogs proximity, there is a great deal of truth to that saying when it comes to human beings. In fact, I’m pretty sure that true focus of that old cliché is none other than people.
The reason I am confident that the saying is true comes from another common phrase: best behaviour. It is, perhaps, the polar opposite of the opening quote, but its implication is similar: human behaviour changes depending on whether or not one is being observed. When the boss (our alleged ‘dog’) is out of the office, the employees (the aforementioned ‘cat’) accomplishes no work. On the other hand, when the boss is in sight of his or her employees, there is a great deal of work and busy-ness. In other words, when one’s superior is present, we are on our ‘best behaviour.’
Or so the sayings go. Personally, I don’t have a lot of time to waste when the boss isn’t around, and in reality, while I have Ruling Elders that help me lead the church, I don’t really have a single, definable, earthly boss. In other words, there is no dog to be here or away while I, one cool cat, am working.
I know what you’re going to say. Yes, God is my boss, Jesus is my CEO, and the Holy Spirit is my gentle, loving taskmaster. So, yes, I am never alone in the office. My upper level (pun decidedly intended) management team is always present, which brings me to my point: my heavenly superiors aren’t just in my office hanging around the water cooler and making sure I’m getting things done. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are constantly watching over us. One might say, reverting to our opening Canine/Feline motto, that the ‘dogs’ are never away, when it comes to we humans.
That doesn’t mean we are never allowed to play, that we are constantly on duty or that we’re being watched by a do-nothing bunch of bosses. What it does mean is that our every action is a Holy one, because the one that watches is also the one that created us, and He is supremely, capital ‘H’ Holy. As a result we children of our Heavenly Father are also capital ‘H’ Holy.
If we lived according to our Holy origins we wouldn’t have to worry whether or not the boss is watching. If every human being lived as if they were Holy beings created in and for God’s love, everything we did would be a loving, holy action, a joy and a pleasure for both God and us. In other words, imagine for a moment how great things could be if our best behaviour wasn’t just saved for when we thought God was watching. I bet there would be a lot more playing and lot less worrying if every person’s best behaviour was in reality our normal behaviour.
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