Lesson's From a Puppy Part 2

I would have never considered myself to be a “dog” person. We’ve always preferred cats. Dogs are too needy, too stinky, too hands on. When all of your energy has gone into raising the five human babies that the Lord gifted you with, one simply doesn't have the time for fur babies. So this will come as a surprise to you when I tell you that at this present moment we have, living in our house, four DOGS!! I sound like a crazy DOG lady, don’t I? The funny thing is NONE of them were planned. We didn’t go searching for any of them. Every one of them found us. Our three puppies, (Back story HERE) didn’t exactly find us, but I guess you could say that they were left in our care by their mother. Speaking of mom, we’ve never laid eyes on her, but you can tell she must be a black lab or black lab mix, because most of them share the same build and coloring, but their daddies are quite obviously different.

Dog Fact: Unlike humans, dogs can indeed have more than one father per litter.

Now two of our puppies, are every bit what you’d expect puppies to be like. They are rambunctious, feisty, into everything and LOVE attention. They even look more alike than the other. Piper and Poe, both are very slim and muscular, with long gangly legs and short, course black hair. They do have different white markings though. Poe has hardly any white on him at all, whereas Piper has white that starts around his nose and goes all the way down his chest. All three of their eyes are different. Poe wins the prize for most beautiful eyes. They just emanate preciousness. Piper’s… well, he has beady eyes, but he’s still adorable. ;) Then you have the third puppy, Mags!

Mags… (My oldest son, the gun loving Caleb, named him Magnum, but we just call him Mags or Magsie for short.) ...is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in every imaginable way. I’m pretty sure, that Mags’ daddy was a Newfoundland or at least a Newfie mix, and so if you’re familiar with that breed of dog, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about. Where Poe and Piper have athletic builds, Mags’ no nonsense, brawny build was made for work. He’s what you’d call a hawse. Contrary to what his body type says about him, his wide girth is covered by the softest wavy hair you have ever touched. If you can imagine with me, it feels like what you'd fancy a cloud would feel like. Where his smaller brothers are hyper, Mags would rather just sit and watch the goings on of the day and he rarely shows emotion on his droopy eyed face. He just sits… and watches. Now, when he DOES decide it’s time for some exercise, those brother’s better WATCH OUT. He attacks like a Mac truck, as he plows into them, taking the others to the floor with one pounce. And boy does he have a BITE. When Mags is on the prowl, yipping will ensue.

This is Magsie watching TV with Lou.

In the mornings after I’ve let them out to do their business, and have fed them their breakfast in the kitchen, I’ll go into the dining room and sit on the floor, and wait. As soon as they realize that I’m on the floor, Piper and Poe will come barreling towards me, each begging for some love and attention. They jump up to TRY to give me kisses on the face. They nuzzle their little noses into the space between my arm and my rib cage and just take the loving in. They long for human touch. They beg for “momma’s” attention.

Some mornings, Mags will quietly come and sit beside me, but most of the time, while the others are getting all up in my grill, he’s just sniffing around, checking the place out, looking to find some little morsel of food left behind on the floor. When he passes near enough to me that I can reach him, I always pull him into my lap and give him a good petting. He never resists. Once the loving begins he takes it all in, looking up at me with that adorable face as if to say, Thanks, Mom, for making me accept your love.

That got me thinking about how I too, am sometimes that way with God. Oh, how I long for my Savior’s loving arms to hold me. My soul’s desire is to be accepted by Him, my actions approved, by way of him smiling into my life. But many days, I act like Mags. I get too busy to notice Him sitting there waiting for me.

Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29 KJV2000

Sometimes it’s not even a matter of being too busy, but being too confident in my own ability to make it through the day. I find that this is especially true if I’ve had a few days of really good fellowship with the Lord, during my Jesus Time. I’ll take the next day off thinking that the previous days lovin’ will sustain me. Then busyness might take me out the following day and before long half a week has passed without me crawling up into my Father’s lap. He’ll let me go for a little while, but before too long, He stops me and reminds me that, “I’m still here, Christy and YOU NEED ME.” It’s only then that I realize that I’ve let the morsels of this world take my attention off of the One who seeks to supply my soul with love and hope and joy. Peace, grace and mercy!!

Oh, how we must guard our hearts against becoming selfsufficeint Christians. We mustn't let the morsels that this world offers distract us from the One who truly loves us, who sustains us by his grace, who encourages us by his Word and who wants to give us a new “leash” on life. (Pun fully intended.)

We ALL need a daily dose of God’s love.

#JesusTime #BibleStudy #Distractions