Wisdom From “Man’s Best Friend”

angie c tipton

act now ministries

9.24.2011

Several months ago, my husband, David, decided that he wanted a dog and with all of the abandoned dogs at local shelters he decided to adopt a pet. He searched until he found what he hoped was just the right dog for our family. When we made the visitation to see if this dog was “the one,” this adorable mutt stole our hearts.  Since then, we have considered Stewie a member of our family.  Over the past several months, I’ve observed a few things about Stewie that could easily be applied to our journey with God.

Stewie has a great personality and loves to play.  It seems that his favorite game is to fetch.  I think he would fetch for hours on end if he had someone to throw a ball or anything for that length of time!  Sometimes when David is playing with him, Stewie get’s super hyper and runs through our living room like crazy.  One of the things he does is run and jumps on the sofa, banks off of the back of it, leaps to the floor, runs a circle around the coffee table and starts the entire process over again…all at lightning speed.  He’s a bundle of energy and fun to watch!  We especially get a laugh out of him when he occasionally flat out misses the jump to the sofa.  He leaps like a gazelle with full intent of landing ON the sofa, but crashes, head first into the front of it, causing him to fall to the floor.  But, he doesn’t let it faze him in the least…even our laughter doesn’t faze him.  In fact, he just picks up where he left off and keeps on keepin’ on!  Honestly, I wish that I had his insight or stick-to-itiveness years ago!  Many times when I was going full on towards a goal and “failed” (not truly a failure, I just believed it was), I let the “failure” keep me down…it kept me from moving forward for a time.  I had to realize that it really wasn’t a failure, just a stepping stone to the next leg of the journey…a time of learning and strengthening of faith.  Knowing who we are in Christ…remembering that when something doesn’t turn out the way we thought…should be enough to keep us moving on that path towards our God given dreams and goals. 

Now, Stewie LOVES to ride in the car.  When I say to Stewie…”wanna go bye-bye?” he cannot move fast enough to get beside me.  In his frenzied way, he grabs the nearest toy, runs to me and then heads for the garage.  He is always ready to go!  This made me think about us “going with God.”  I wonder just how many of us are “ready to go” when our Master calls us to go?  How many of us run to His side, raring to go wherever and whenever our Lord and Savior calls us?  That’s something to think about!

But, on the other side of that, I wonder how many times we miss that call or even worse yet, how many times we hear the call and refuse to follow for whatever reason?  With Stewie, there are times when he has figured out that when we call him, it’s time for him to stay in his crate.  At that point, he refuses to obey...it’s something that he doesn’t want to do.  In fact, there are times when he puts himself in danger by staying outside, refusing to come to us, refusing to obey and refusing to come inside to safety.  We live in the country and have many coyotes that roam around our home at night.  They’re vicious and have claimed a few of our pet cats for themselves. (and most recently our try at raising chickens)  In Stewie’s hardheadedness, “self wisdom” and lack of true understanding, he puts himself in danger.  We only want what is best for him because, even though he is a dog, we consider him a part of our family and we love him. I believe that there are times in our lives when God is calling us, but for whatever reason, lack of understanding, hardheadedness, “self wisdom,” or just plain ‘ol rebellion, we refuse to follow Him.  I believe that, just like the danger that is out there awaiting Stewie in the darkness of night, when we refuse to follow God, we are leaving ourselves in a place of possible danger, therefore allowing the enemy access to us.  Oh how important it is that we put God first in our lives…always, not just when it is convenient!  We need to realize that not only does He love us; He loves us unconditionally and always, no matter what! So, even if we were to find ourselves away from God, off that path that He has for us, we are assured of His unconditional love for us.  And, if we ask for it, He will guide us back to where He wants us.  We are His children and He only wants what is best for us.  He has said He will never leave us or forsake us.  (By the way, we’re working with Stewie to correct his behavior and God will do the same with us if/when He needs to.)    

In the evenings after working all day, David likes to watch TV.  Stewie is perfectly content just lying beside David, his master…simply just being in his presence.  This, I believe, is another quality that we can see in “man’s best friend” and apply to our own lives.  Are we content with simply being with our Master? Or, do we feel the need to constantly “do something”…believing the lie that we must always be “doing something for the Lord?”  There is a time when we should simply “be” with our Master and a time when we should be active, as well.  Activity should not be confused with intimacy with our Lord and Savior…our Master.

Earlier I told of how my husband searched patiently until he found the perfect pet for our family.  That is how God seeks after us.  But, the time and energy my husband spent is only a tiny fraction of a fraction of the time and energy that God uses to seek us…yes, each and every one of us!  He loves us all equally…He is no respecter of persons.  We are all made perfectly in His eyes, as we each have our own giftings and works to use/do in our lifetime…that is, if we give ourselves over to Him fully. 

I urge you, if you haven’t already, to ask Jesus into your heart, surrender to Him and live for Him wholly.  He will not lead you astray.  He will NEVER leave you or forsake you.  Let’s take some of this wisdom from “man’s best friend” and apply it to our journey with our Master.  I assure you, it IS a great adventure!