Thoughts and Writings from the furnace by Kent Weathersby

Desperado

Many say that the Don Felder and Joe Walsh guitar riff at the end of “Hotel California” is the best of its kind ever played. I can’t not listen. But, personally, my favorite Eagles song is “Desperado,” especially the last verse –

“Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you
You better let somebody love you before it’s too late.”

The band is named for the mascot of the high school and also of the University attended by Don Henley. Eagles purists insist that the band’s name is Eagles – not “The Eagles.” To refer to them as “The Eagles” is akin to George W. Bush referring to “The Google.

I recently had my own encounter with the noble American Bald Eagle. It started with a cup of coffee and my designated chair on the back porch. There, right in front of me not 50 yards away, was a great Bald Eagle; quietly perched on the shore of the lake behind our house.

Even resting, the bird was majestic as the ripples gently washed over its talons. I had the impulse to run for my camera, but decided not to as I didn’t want to miss a thing. As I watched in awe, something caught my eye in the sky above the lake. There, gliding in wide circles, was another Bald Eagle. Not once did he flap his wings; he rode the currents as if they were his entourage.

Suddenly, the Eagle dove for the surface and leveled off just inches above the lake, still gliding. His powerful talons reached forward and snatched a fish from the gleaming water. His timing was perfect as he continued his glide to the side of his waiting mate. Together, the pair shared a breakfast of fresh perch on the shore of Lake McIntosh.

There was something bewitching about the experience and I thought about it for days. Surely there was something more significant going on than a scene worthy of a John Audubon print.

Finally, I was driven to “The Google.” There I learned that the patiently waiting eagle on the shore was a female, being larger than the aerial warrior. But why not join the hunt? After all, she could spot a small rabbit from two miles away. The answer was simple: the couple was engaged in a courting ritual – she was allowing herself to be loved.

The conversation about love is never ending. Philosophers, artists, theologians, and clinicians have much to say about the subject, but without resorting to metaphorical language, using the term emotion is as far as they can get. That is because love is of God; God is love. God is also invisible and therefore so is love.

In the best of worlds, the exchange of love evolves naturally. A mother breathes life into her baby’s emotions with the first caress. Love quietly weaves the fabric of belonging; as it ebbs and flows, it invisibly bonds its members in a way that promotes love as that paramount experience: the locus of all other aspects of being.  The raison d’être! So eternal in nature, it transcends generations – “A man shall leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife.”

We should place great value on getting off to an emotionally healthy start in life. In a workaholic, alcoholic, or violent home, a child can be imprinted to strive for acceptance or to save his siblings from the chaos. Experiencing the joy, fulfillment, and integrity of being part of another’s life is suppressed and subordinated to everything else, including survival.

Life for that person can become a perpetual treadmill of work, and “saving” others. In the extreme, a painful psychological and emotional burnout can occur. Then, the survival instinct ignites a self-absorbing, frantic, and neurotic search for liberating insight as the Desperado spirals into even deeper exhaustion. The emotions can shut-down and the threat of their alienation from the intellect is real. And, very dangerous.

Hopeless – not at all! The Lord of life said: “Take my yoke upon you and learn (of) me…. and you will find rest for your souls”. This is not as cryptic as it sounds – His yoke is to love as He loved. It also means letting yourself be loved, as He did the Father and His disciples.

A good question for all of is: whose life has God placed in our world with arms open wide to join in? To make their interests ours. Getting lost in making someone happy is an easy and light burden. Could it be a spouse, child, or friend? For some of us, it’s time to give our minds and bodies a rest and our hearts a chance. It’s time to come down from our fences and let someone love us . . . before it’s too late.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Kent