Gospel truths of a dog owner – Show me!

We had been pampered as far as dogs go. When we welcomed Snuffles into our home, she was already 5 years old and had been trained by her previous owners. Yes, she was basically blind, but she was house-bred, didn’t bark, and listened when you gave her commands. And she loved learning new things – and was very quick at learning.

We taught her to roll over, to play dead, to dance – as well as sitting, lying down and staying. She would stay at my heel when we went into high grass, knowing that she did not know where we were going (and could not see it). You only had to teach her a new trick a few times before she figured out what you wanted and did it.

Chester has been more of a challenge. He can play ball and has even become quite good at playing soccer with Sean. But that is a natural thing that dogs do. After our experience with Snuffles, we were a bit disappointed with Chester. He can sit, but won’t always stay if you turn your back on him. He can lay down, but he cannot turn over (maybe because of his body type).

More importantly, it takes a good while to teach him something new. As with any dog, he learns best when given positive reinforcement – being praised. He just wants to make us happy! In fact he tries so hard that he hardly listens to what we are saying or looks at what we are showing him. He just does whatever he figures will work – tongue hanging out and tail wagging so hard it looks like he is about to take of in a helicopter move.

But if you take the time, he can be taught. You have to slow things down. Show him one thing at a time. Repeat. Repeat. And repeat. And once he has learned it... he will forget it. But it will come back. He really does love you and wants to please you. He just has to be shown how to do that.

Now he knows lots of things. He know how each one of us (Shirley, Sean or Scott) take him out for walks (because we all do different things). He knows where he is allowed to sit, when he is allowed to eat, when he is allowed to bark (to let us know if someone is at the door). And he does all of this very well. He also listen very well when he is called.

But he learned all of these things. He did not know them as a matter of course. He had to learn them from us. Now, once again, I am not saying that people are dogs, nor that God treats us like dogs, but there are a lot of things we can learn from this. You see, we don’t simply know what makes God happy. We can think we know and just start doing things. But if we really want to make God happy, then we need to slow down, pay attention and listen to what he wants.

And we may have to try again and again (I still get too angry when I should not). And we will sometimes forget. But God is patient with us. And he is not going to just give up on us. So, what did you learn today?

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:3-6