Lesson from a Big Dumb Dog

I have never been a dog person. We have had dogs that I have loved, and I didn't necessarily have anything *against* dogs (except Shelties...I abhor Shelties! :-D), but I was always really more of a cat person.

*Now* if I had my way, I would be a "no-pet" person. Again, not because I have anything against pets per se...in fact, I always thought I would have a houseful...but because at this point in our lives, I'm not up to pets. If we were in a different house, with a different income, with different life circumstances, and my health were different...I would love pets. As it is...not so much.

However, we now have two dogs. Darcy, our dauchhaund/beagle mix, was our own doing. Billy and I both completely lost our senses at the same time and agreed to a puppy. Sandy, on the other hand, was ever-so-graciously passed on to us by my inlaws. She's a 13 year old, seriously overweight beagle, that the kids all gave my FIL (with his blessing) for Father's Day one year. When our niece was born last year, my inlaws decided that with two little ones to help care for, Sandy needed a new home. Ours.

Sandy and I tolerate each other at best. She knows, I'm sure, that I'm not thrilled about her being here, and I know that I am definitely her least favorite of the 6 humans in this house. She's not a bad dog, but she annoys me in all manner of ways. Barking during dinner, sleeping too close to my chair, deciding to take her Sunday stroll in the backyard when I am the only one home and need her to come in so I can leave for church on Sunday evening.

Tonight Sandy was really, REALLY annoying me. She had had a bath, and was in the dining room (where I was sitting trying to read/relax) shuffling around bumping into chairs trying to get comfortable. Did I mention she was making LOTS of noise?? Then she got into my trash, looking for a bedtime snack, I suppose. THEN I walked in the kitchen and discovered that she had pulled dirty towels out of the laundry basket and made herself a bed in them. Ugh!

At that point I decided it was time for Sandy and I to have a little chat.

"Dog, you and I are about to have it out. I have HAD IT. I know you are big, but I am bigger, and I am GOING TO WIN."

May I stop here for a second and insert that Billy is at this point around the corner snickering at me. He thinks the relationship between Sandy and I is hysterical...especially when she is obvious in her disdain for me. I am not so amused...

Anyway, the next words in my tirade were these:

"You know, the ONLY reason I put up with you, the ONLY reason you are even still HERE, is because of what you mean to that little girl in there. If it weren't for her, you would be OUT of here faster than..."

And then I stopped.

I suddenly realized that Sandy and I are kind of in the same boat.

You see, when Sandy came to live with us, she became "the dog" of one particular daughter. This daughter had gone through some very rough days, and Sandy almost became like a "therapy dog" for her. She *loves* that dog. She LOVES that dog. She's very protective of her, and Billy and I are already worrying about how she will handle it when the end comes.

Sandy is completely worthless on her own merit. She doesn't fetch, she doesn't contribute anything to the welfare of the family. She eats (a lot), she sleeps (and snores, really loudly), and she wanders around in the yard (and barks, loudly, at every human or animal that comes into her field of vision.)

But Sandy has one great value. My daughter loves her. A lot. And because she means a lot to my daughter, she means a lot to me. I show her grace (LOTS of grace) because of what she means to my little girl.

I am worthless. The Bible says that all of our good works are as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). It also says that God cannot look upon sin (Isa. 59:2), and that we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23).

But...when God looks at me, because of His gift of salvation through Jesus, He doesn't see my sin. He sees the love of His precious Son, poured out in His blood. He sees us as spotless and clean (Col. 1:22) Because I am "in Christ", I am not condemned to Hell.

I needed that reminder tonight.

Maybe Sandy isn't so worthless after all.

In “Other” Words…Wholehearted Love?

“To just read the Bible, attend church,
and avoid "big" sins -
is this passionate, wholehearted love for God? ”
~Francois Fenelon,
The Seeking Heart

What a quote! I was so excited Friday when I saw that this was going to be today’s In “Other” Words quote. How easy it is to fall into that trap~to “read the Bible, attend church, and avoid ‘big’ sins”~and feel like we are “set”. All of those things are important. It is vitally important that we saturate ourselves with God’s Word. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of the Body. And we are told to “Be Holy” as He is Holy…not just to avoid “big sins” but “all sin”.

But it mustn’t stop there. Our heart must be in love with God. We are commanded to love Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, and with all of our mind.

And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 10:27

I’ve realized in the past few years that I had fallen hard into that trap…even though I *knew* better. I had let a list of do’s and don’ts take the place of a Relationship. Now…I still feel very strongly about many of those do’s and don’ts! But the motivation has changed.

God has used the experiences of the last few years to rekindle a passionate love relationship with Him. I have experienced that love in ways I never imagined before. I still fall very short…both in the wholehearted love relationship, and in the behaviors that should flow out of that. But…my heart’s desire is to please Him, to serve Him, and to obey Him, because of His great love and sacrifice for me. I so want to have a “passionate, wholehearted love for God”. I want to demonstrate that to my children.

As I said in this post, that is my primary goal as a mother:

“My primary goal is for my children to love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Only if they truly love Him and have a personal walk with Him as not only Savior, but also Lord of their lives, will they truly be the successes that He...and I...want them to be. No matter what they look like on the outside, no matter how intelligent, polite, and "successful" they appear to be...if they haven't given their hearts to Him completely, it is all for naught.”

And if that is truly my primary goal as a mother, then I must live it myself. Not just for them, not just for my husband, but for *me* and my relationship with God. I want to be totally, passionately, on-fire-sold-out-in-love with Him. And I want that love to spill out wherever I am.

Speaking of passionate love, the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, has been on my wish list for a long time…since my friend Tauna first mentioned it to me months ago. This month it is the free download from ChristianAudio.com. I downloaded it today and can’t wait to listen!

Thanks to Debbie at HeartChoices for hosting In “Other” Words today. This is a great quote and one I needed to think about this week.

Independence Day Wisdom...

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come."- Samuel Adams, 1776 (at the signing of the Declaration of Independence)

"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained."

- George Washington, 1789

'The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible', "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
- George Washington Carver, 1939

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."
- Patrick Henry, Patriot 1776

"It is necessary for the welfare of the nation that men's lives be based on the principles of the Bible. No man, educated or uneducated, can afford to be ignorant of the Bible."
- Theodore Roosevelt - (1858-1919) 26th President of the United States

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
- Thomas Jefferson, 1871

"The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God."
- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) 35th President of the United States

Blog Tour: "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity"

I was so excited when the opportunity arose to review Keri Wyatt Kent's new book, Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity. First, free books are always a wonderful thing. :) And second, but more important, the issue of honoring the Sabbath is one with which I've struggled for a long time, and one which has been increasingly on my mind in in my heart in the past few months. For our family, Sabbath-keeping involves goals such as these:

Corporate worship with our church family is priority.

We don't take on outside commitments (other than church) that require regular Sunday participation.

We keep Sunday shopping to a minimum.

Our Sundays are often far from restful, however...and at times even when they are restful and relaxing, I wonder if they truly qualify as "honoring the Sabbath":

There are times (such as the last couple of months, when we have been preparing for Family Camp and VBS :)) when church activities seem to run us ragged, even on Sundays.

While I rarely shop on Sunday, stopping by the grocery store on the way home from church ends up being a necessity some weeks. I steer clear of the mall and other retail spots...most of the time. But one of the most restful, refreshing Sundays I've had in a long time involved a fun afternoon trip with a friend to a craft store...I came home energized, motivated, and feeling creative inspiration I hadn't felt in a long time.

Our "no outside commitments other than church" policy for Sundays is definitely a good thing for our family...but lately I've wondered if our *quiet* Sunday afternoons with everyone following their own pursuits leave something to be desired.

I have to admit that after my initial excitement about reading Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, within the first few pages, I was a tiny bit put off. Kent mentions early on that her daughter's soccer team periodically plays on Sunday. I shoved down the little Pharisaical voice inside saying, "What on earth is someone whose child plays soccer on Sunday doing writing a book about Sabbath rest??" and continued reading. I'm glad I did.

Kent doesn't offer pat answers or a list of "dos and don'ts". Instead, as she shares honestly her journey toward a life of Sabbath Simplicity, she encourages us to take heed of the Biblical mandate to set aside a Day of Rest, and to explore how God would have us and our families live that out.

Rather than getting hung up on "Which day should one observe, Saturday or Sunday?" (although she does give a brief Biblical and historical argument for the Lord's Day observance on Sunday), Kent lays out a basis for a day set apart from the normal routine and ideas for making it meaningful and workable in our fast-paced modern world.

I could well relate to her introduction to the second chapter, where she describes herself as "a bit of a restless soul". "The illusion I labor under is that when things really get going or finally settle down, I'll be able to focus on what matters. I'll be content. I'll live a simple and serene life." She then describes the trap I think many of us fall into..."running like crazy but getting just about nowhere" in the pursuit of contentment and serenity...making more lists, doing more tasks, working more hours, when what we really need to do is STOP.

She offers that as the only "rule" for Sabbath rest..."just stop". Further than that, she offers not rules, but "guidelines for stopping" as she invites us to "consider receiving the gift of God's rest." I especially appreciated her discussion of the body's need to alternate periods of being "fully engaged" with periods of being "fully at rest". It provided food for thought on the issue of God's promise of "rest" and a "light yoke" and "easy burden", versus the physical, mental, and emotional sacrifices we often seem called to in following Him. Is part of the burn-out so many of us experience directly related to the lack of true Sabbath rest in our lives? Is there a way to reconcile that in the modern world? Kent says that there is.

I was a little concerned that a book on "keeping the Sabbath" might lead to feeling a bit overwhelmed or guilty at what I "should" be doing. Instead, I was inspired and motivated with changes I can make...some immediate and some more gradual...to make our Sundays more restful and more God-honoring, without being legalistic or just plain lazy. I also became aware...again...that celebrating and honoring the Sabbath doesn't just involve a single day in the week. It involves a change in our hearts and attitudes to give Him *all* of our time in order that we can accept the gift of rest He offers.

Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, by Keri Wyatt Kent, is publised by Zondervan and available at Amazon. For links to others on this week's blog tour, visit The Blog Tour Spot.

Re-Reading...

I got up this morning and decided I needed to read back through my blog a bit. I needed to be reminded of what God has done in our lives in the past few years, and of the things He has taught me through it. It's been a slow, but very good, journey through the past year's blog entries. I hope to have time later today to read a little more...but I just ran across my blog entry for a year ago today, and thought I would share it again, in it's entirety, here. (I almost had to laugh as I read what I wrote about "closure" and the "cloud of waiting" no longer hanging over our heads...as the beginnings of "closure" ended up being an illusion, and the "cloud of waiting" merely moved out of our field of vision for a few weeks before re-entering it even larger than before. Eleven months after its reappearance, it still hangs there, threatening a storm occasionally, but mostly just unsuccessfully trying to block the rays of the sun.)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008

Trust His Heart

Trust His Heart All things work for our good though sometimes we can't see how they could struggles that break our hearts in two sometimes blind us to the truth Our Father knows what's best for us His ways are not our own So when your pathway grows dim, and you just can't see Him Remember you're never alone God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind So when you don't understand When you don't see His plan When you can't trace His hand Trust His heart He sees the master plan And He holds our future in His hands So don't live as those who have no hope All our hope is found in Him We see the present clearly But He sees the first and the last And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me to someday be just like Him God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind So when you don't understand When you don't see His plan When you can't trace His hand Trust His heart He alone is faithful and true He alone knows what is best for you So when you don't understand When you don't see His plan When you can't trace His hand trust His heart

~Babbie Mason and Eddie Carswell

This song has been a favorite of mine for years, and yesterday on the way home from an extremely difficult morning, the chorus began to run through my head, over and over. I found myself humming it all day and evening. This morning when I woke up, it was still playing in my mind.

Yesterday did not go as I had hoped and prayed. In some ways, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been, but in some ways, it was much worse than I expected. It didn't help that my perspective was very different than that of many other people involved...people whom I care about very much, but who either aren't aware of "the story behind the story" or who are aware, but don't see it through the same eyes we do. The complicated mix of emotions was stirred even more by unsuspecting words on the part of others...I felt as though I were swallowing ground glass as I sat and listened to people describe a version of the situation that was far, far from the truth...and knowing that, at least for the moment, I was powerless to do anything about it.

But...God is still God. He is still good. He is still sovereign and sufficient to meet every need. There has been much in the past two years that I have not understood about God's plan and His work in our lives. And as I told a friend yesterday, "The fact that I don't understand this is no different than all the other things I haven't understood in the past two years." I reminded Billy this morning that two years ago today, on what would turn out to be the worst day of my life before or since, I would *never* have been able to imagine the ways that God has worked in this situation. Yesterday's outcome...although not exactly what I would have chosen...was nothing less than a miracle, considering the bleak outlook from two years ago.

The day for which we waited for almost 18 months has come and gone. I suppose in some respects there has now been some *closure*, although the scars will linger forever, and it will never truly be *over*. I am thankful for an opportunity to begin moving toward a *new normal* in our lives, without the cloud of *waiting* hanging over our heads with every step we take. I am most of all thankful for the lessons God has taught us...and is still teaching us...through all of this...about His love, His goodness, His grace and mercy, and His sovereignty.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:21-26

Be on the Lookout...

...for a couple of special posts this week:

1. Book review for this week's blog tour for the book Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, by Keri Wyatt Kent. I'm excited about this book, and this review!

2. It's Mega Memory Month again! This one almost snuck by me, and I haven't decided yet what our memory project for this month will be, so check back soon for "the plan." Ann's Mega Memory Month challenges have been such a blessing to us, as we've learned passages such as the Beatitudes, Psalm 1, and Ephesians 6: 1-9, plus poems such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "My Shadow". To participate in July's challenge, visit Ann Kroeker.

Life Lesson of the Day...

This is my phone. Nothing fancy; I've had it for years and am just thankful every day that it still works. I know that newer phones do lots of exciting things like texting, video, music downloads, even web access...but mine functions just fine for the two purposes for which I use it...talking on the phone, and waking me up in the morning.

Yesterday we went to the library with friends to watch The Tale of Despereaux. (*Very* cute movie, btw. :)) Being the socially responsible (ha!) and super-considerate person that I am, I turned my phone to "vibrate" and stuck it back in my pocket.

Last night I was sitting at my desk, with my phone on a stack of books beside me, when it began to make an odd sound and move of its own volition. I waited for it to ring, and then realized it wasn't going to. I answered the phone and said to my friend, "I still haven't taken my phone off silent; remind me to do that when we finish talking." Unfortunately, before we reached that point, my battery died. And then I had trouble getting my phone to come back on. And then I charged it until I went to bed. And then I stood beside my bed and set the alarm very carefully for this morning.

And then Billy woke up and woke me up and said, "It's past 5:30." And I looked at my phone and sure enough, it was 6:40.

And I tried and tried to figure out what happened, because I KNEW I set my alarm and triple-checked it to make sure it was set correctly for Billy to get up.

And then at 7:30 this morning, I was sitting at my desk when I suddenly realized...

I NEVER TOOK MY PHONE OFF SILENT!!

Life Lesson of the Day:

The alarm works better if you take the phone off silent.

Life works better when you don't oversleep.

Especially two days in a row.

*Sigh*