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Photo: Arnaud 25
For those of you who have ever had the pleasure of driving a dog sled team or watched the Alaskan Iditarod on TV, you probably know it's hard to beat sled dogs when it comes to enthusiasm.
Our word, enthusiasm comes from the Greek and means 'inspiration from God' or 'God in you.' Sled dogs no matter what the breed know all about this. As soon as sled dogs are harnessed (which can be an adventure in and of itself for the handler) they are ready to go. All the dogs want to do is run. As soon as the driver (musher) jumps onto the back of the sled and pulls up the hook anchoring the sled into the snow, all hell (figuratively speaking) breaks loose! Amidst the cacophony of barking dogs and commands being 'barked' out by the driver, the team moves forward in one big burst! The excited, grinning, tongue-wagging dogs all pull together as if this were the most wonderful thing they could be doing. They live entirely in the moment and the moment is full of fun.
What joy! What enthusiasm! If we were asked to pull a sled some of us might complain, "That's going to be hard work." "It takes too much energy." "I might pull a muscle." "Its just too much." Yet these dogs don't seem to worry about how heavy or light the load in the sled is or how big the driver. Instead, the dogs bring unbridled enthusiasm to the task at hand. They find happiness in the single purpose of the task they share with one another and their driver. Together, they can accomplish almost anything or at the very least give it a full-hearted try.
Perhaps we can bring enthusiasm or 'inspiration from God' into our own daily tasks and like sled dogs come to know that enthusiasm in action can accomplish amazing things. Norman Vincent Peale loved to say, "Enthusiasm makes the difference" and it does.
Peace to all
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