Life Lessons...and other things I have learned from my dog.

Sometimes I wonder what my neighbors think about me when they hear me outside with my dog.  Henry.  He is my little buddy in life.  I just love him.  There is much that can be learned from observing the life of dogs.  He does not talk but he communicates quite clearly.

For starters, dog's are not self-conscious.  Whatever they "gotta do", they are "gonna do", no matter who's yard they happen to be walking through (or if said yard-owners happen to be watching from inside their home).  

When I was younger, I used to dog-sit for a cute little dog whose owners promptly trained him to poop in their next-door neighbor's yard.  He would potty in his own yard, but would run next door and poop in another.  

Genius.  

And embarrassing...I could hardly handle watching the tragedy take place day after day while sitting for them.  Growing up, my youth group had a motto: "if you're gonna make a fool of yourself, make sure to do it in a foreign country".  I have exercised this often.  I have stories and witnesses to prove it...but that's another story for another day :)

My family dog, Sam, would often beg for food, no matter what we happened to be eating.  I was once struck by my own similarities in my "begging" of things from the Lord, when Sam sat at my feet one day...begging me for a piece of the dark chocolate that I was enjoying. Obviously we all know that dark chocolate can be lethal for our furry friends, but they give no thought to this whatsoever.  

They just want what they want...when they want it.  

God says of the ostrich that He has "...deprived her of wisdom.  He has given her no understanding" (Job 39:17).  The same, I think, can be said of dogs.  They do not understand.  They cannot reason with you.  They don't care if they are begging you for the very thing that would bring them death and destruction.  They just want it!  

And so we are with God.  It often silences me to think of how many times I have sat before Him, begging Him for the very thing that will bring death and destruction into my life, simply because of my own lack of wisdom and understanding.  How often I have begged Him for the dark chocolate without even realizing it.  

I used to struggle so much with un-answered prayer, until I realized how much "dark chocolate" I may be unknowingly asking Him for.  As children of God, Children of the Creator of all things, we have the distinct privilege of having Him intervene in our lives.  "A man's steps are determined from the Lord...." (Proverbs 20:24).  I cannot look to Him to direct my steps and then get mad at Him for doing so. 

And this leads me to what happened with Henry recently.  For some reason, deer have a fondness for my neighborhood.  

I love everything about this.

It is quite common to take Little Man out at midnight, only to find 3 or 4 deer just laying in various spots behind my home.  They love my yard, my neighbors yard, and the lot behind my house.  I have no complaints about this and neither does Sir Henry.  That is, when he notices that they are there. 

He often just misses them entirely.  He simply does not see them.  They are still.  They are smart.  They don't move.  Henry, on the other hand, is none of those things!  He is often so busy sniffing out the land around him, that he completely misses the amazing deer that are laying just outside of his vision.  

And so it is with us.  

In the Bible, Jacob was once visited by the Lord in a dream, only to awake and say, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not" (Genesis 28:16).  So often we fail to see God.  We may have heard of the Lord, but have we actually met Him?  Do we Know Him?  Do we truly see Him? 

***Are we so busy with life that is happening all around us, that we fail to notice what is truly going on just outside of the periphery of our everyday vision? *** 

I know I am guilty of this.


After God revealed Himself to Job, at the conclusion of the greatest storm of life that man has ever lived to tell about, Job simply said: "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen you".

I want to see Him.  I don't want to be so caught up in the day-to-day that I miss Him entirely.  My life's goal: Seeking Him...daily.  Asking to see Him....Daily. Expecting Him to direct my steps...Daily.

This is what life as a child of God is all about.  We may be shocked at what He opens our eyes to see....