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Sometimes when it’s just me, my Heavenly Husband, and the pup at home I look for happiness and feel gratitude in my immediate surroundings. Receiving a long look from a pair of puppy dog eyes goes a long ways at times like these. Enjoy some canine humor and some pics of Elle, Steve, and me from the family photo album too!
One more day and I will be free of this 29-day round of antibiotics. A short course of candida treatment (6 days) begins after that and I’ll see what’s left of me when I’m done! On this day, I am grateful for:
All we have is this moment in time. I mean who can make sure a birthday cake comes out right tomorrow when it is today? Who can redo a soggy flower bed from last year on a wintery day? The best strategy is to stay in the moment where we can do our best to be mindful of the Lord and if He leads, do our best work, best thinking, best living.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34
These themes were revealed today by our German shepherd dog, Elle. I decided to push the limit of my activity level and do a few things outdoors in the heat. After making it through my husband’s kayak race at the Fort Wayne Riverfest, I was very warm, straining to function and all-around uncomfortable. Nonetheless, since I was still covered with sunscreen and bug spray so when I got home, I figured this would be a good time to replant 2 pots, feed our acid-loving plants in the patio garden, and so on before coming into the house to take a shower. Elle was outside with me doing the things she likes to do too: sniff, sniff, sniff! Not 15 minutes had gone by before our generally obedient pup was gone from my watchful eye. “Whhhhhhit,” I called. No dog. She usually comes racing around the house back to me when I whistle for her. Hmmmm.
But of course! It’s very humid and above 80 degrees F outside today. The clouds are long gone and she was panting rather hard not long after joining me in the yard. Guess the sip of water from the garden hose wasn’t enough for her. Elle had taken herself for a swim! She loves to “play hippo” as my husband calls it, in the neighborhood pond behind our property. She stays in the water long enough to cool her belly then wanders out into the public area around the pond to sniff out some rabbit tracks and inspect the perimeter of our neighbor’s backyard. I whistled a little louder. Yeah, a wet dog came a running!
The German shepherd gets it. She got hot. She wanted relief. She went for a swim in the pond and came back to her usual activities thereafter. Oh to be able to think like a dog sometimes! Elle keeps it simple. Not me. I continued to pot up some vinca flowers despite the sweat running into my eyes causing tremendous burning, first the right eye and then the left. “I can’t stop,” I tell myself, “because I would have to go into the house to wash my hands then go to the bathroom and get distracted by 5 other things and never get back outside to finish if I do.” Geez. In the 12-Step programs they used to call that “stinking thinking.” To do first that which is most important is another slogan from my ACOA days. Maybe I don’t trust myself when I’m feeling crummy? Guess I haven’t learned to apply all of the slogans yet. Guess I’m still struggling with a pared down version of Matthew 6:34 as well. Forget worrying about tomorrow, I’m stressed about the next moment!
The significance of this behavior goes beyond the sweat in my eyes. I am also dealing with and increase in noxious symptoms from a short course of antibiotics for an infection. Add to that the aftermath of two terrible episodes of seizure attacks before and after an MRI yesterday, broken sleep, heat intolerance requiring me to leave the races before some additional events, and low blood sugar, it seems like I should be inside the house taking care of myself anyways. Sigh. But I want to work in my garden!
I want to do it all and it hurts me sometimes when I do. In doing so, I get in my own way of feeling good. So I’m going to be gentle with myself as I work on this tendency and apply some Biblical truth that will last, will transform me. Let’s see, at the time I am writing this the internet connection went down. I copied the draft into a word document so I wouldn’t lose my precious thoughts. This means that I can’t search some fancy Bible verse website for just the right verse to get me moving in the right direction. It also means that I must go and get out the Big Book itself. Hmmmmm again. I haven’t had my quiet time with the Lord yet today. Perhaps you can guess, gentle reader, what needs to happen next?
Seeya later. It’s time my moment counts for Him and not me. We’ll talk later.
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Addendum: As soon as I turned off the computer the Holy Spirit gave me the verse before the one above. Thank you Lord
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33
It’s not that I don’t like a little excitement now and then. Mixing it up keeps me alert and gives me job security as the protector of the home. I know I’m making a difference when I do my rounds and find something I can bark at. When I find a little activity out of the ordinary by some neighbor and can let you know about it, I feel alive.
To bark, eat, crap, pee, sleep, and walk around in circles, well, this is my destiny. Don’t get me wrong; I do enjoy racing through the backyard at breakneck speeds retrieving that tennis ball you chuck into my elimination zone in the “back 40.” Having you scratch my hips is da bomb next to licking my own paws (etc.) and your rubbing behind my ears or belly. I just melt into your hands when you hold my beak and tell me that I am a “good dog.” It’s easy to turn on my big brown puppy dog eyes at times like these. It’s clear that if I do, the scratches will last longer and I do know how to work it too, you know. I am a smart dog.
But what’s up with the hotel room? Life was great with the lady alpha home because she spent so much time talking sweet nothings to me. I don’t know why she suddenly was home so much after March of last year but I liked it. Then that long red-haired gal came in and out of the kitchen and said a sweet “hey” to me inbetween naps. My workouts with the tall guy were amazing as I leaped into the air rescuing that wretched green fuzzy ball from space and wrestling around in every contortion I could never imagine. Plenty of naps filled my day, table scraps highlighted the menu, and I even got a little pudgy. Life was good.
Now the square footage of my domain includes navy blue carpeting that shows off my shedding hair nicely and some kind of a big doggie bed on which two of the alpha’s take their own nap all night long. I do like the two flights of stairs up to my new abode but not the soggy dog zone out back visited by who knows what kind of canine trash. Where’s my pond? Where’s my field? Where’s my life as I knew it?
I guess this is the life of this dog for now. At least that gal with the brown hair is more energetic and has started taking me out on walks in the parking lot of some concrete jungle behind this sea of giant dog houses. And the tall guy ran me around a sand pit last night that was soft on my joints and a perfect spot to dump my stuff. He is sooooo fun!
Better get back to work. There’s someone dragging a case of something up the sidewalk and I must see if they intend to come too close to my reinforced territory. Ah, to be needed. Ah, to be loved. Woof. Woof.
Jesus is for the Wounded 
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