Dog gone it

As I have been preparing for leading the lessons in the Finding Your Way Back to God series, I keep remembering our dog Mitzi.

I am pretty sure I have shared about her sometime in one of these emails…but it’s a good story and it fits and I come from a long line of people who love to repeat themselves so….

here we go…

When the kids were little, like all kids, they wanted a dog. I was on board because I love dogs. However; Russ’s family never had a dog and he had no interest in having a dog and so it seemed hopeless that we would ever convince him of the need for one of these critters in our home.

I prayed he would change his mind and sure enough the prayers and/or the nagging of children worked because we wore him down and for Christmas one year, he told them they could have a dog.

I did pray fervently that she would be the best dog possible since she would have to win Russ over and sure enough God plopped our little Mitzi into our home in mid-February…an abandoned puppy of six weeks.

And while it wasn’t love at first sight for him, he will tell you that he still misses her furry little mug greeting him at the door at the end of the day.

She had some issues with chewing and shedding, but overall we survived her first two years with our marriage intact and our children blissfully enjoying all the benefits of a dog and even helping with some of the responsibilities.

We loved her dearly but she had one flaw that she never seemed to overcome.

She was a runner.

A door that lingered open too long, a slightly loose collar, a weak link in the leash…and she was gone.

Fearing she would be run over, the family would grab a box of dog biscuits and someone would take the car out (for some reason she always would jump in the car…) and it was an all-out dog hunt until she was back with us.

One day I was by myself when she took off.

She had a knack for picking the worst times to make her get-away and I was on a tight schedule that day.

I stood frantically on the back deck…shaking the dog biscuits and calling her name.

In my frustration, I loudly lamented of this nature that seemed a part of her wiring.

I pointed out to anyone who was listening, since she wasn’t…

how foolish she was to run off where she could be hit by a car or eat some poison someone had left out or who knows what kind of danger she could encounter…

I ranted that she had it good here…

She was well fed and loved
She was kept safe and free of fleas and heart worms
She was a part of us and she loved us …

why oh why did she always run away from the place that was her home?

And God whispered ever so gently in my heart as I stood shaking that box of Milkbones….

How like you, Laura.

Ouch

He was right.

Prone to wander…

Lord I feel it…

Prone to leave the God I love….

Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.*

God’s correction has not been harsh to me.

It has reminded me that He is my source of every blessing…that my ways lead to wanderings that bring me and others heartache.

His ways can be hard and hard to understand.

But I would have no other way.

God bless you today to hear His voice whisper to your heart <3

*Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing; Robert Robinson 1758