Another Dog Story

By P@ Russell

I took a walk with the dogs this glorious morning. Glorious indeed! The temperature had dropped to a coolness in the air. The sun was warming my body, but it was a just-right temperature for the pups. Today I tried something new with their leash hookups. Normally I have all three tethered to me in some way. Obie and Sophie are connected cross wise with a red rope and then I connect to the rope with an expandable leash. Buddy is separate with his own leash. That is the way I walk with two hands our three dogs who are very different.

Obie is the big dog who is most often compliant. Sophie is the middle-sized dog who is very independent and driven by her nose. Then there is Buddy, the old man who is fragile. When Obie and Sophie are connected, Obie gets a bad deal because Sophie is smaller and runs around him, entangling him in the rope. He will stop and patiently wait for me to come and untangle him. Sophie, being driven by her nose, is chasing round trying to find the animal that must have just crossed the path, but in her exuberance, she causes all of us to have to stop and figure things out. Buddy has often been tripped up and thrown off balance by her antics as he is simply trying to get through the walk without falling.

Today was different. Today I told Obie that he had earned his freedom! I did not put a leash on him but let him do his own walk. Sophie and Buddy were leashed separately, one for each of my hands. No longer could Sophie entangle Obie or trip up Buddy, because they had their separate worlds. It worked perfectly in that there was less tangle. Best of all, Obie was very obedient when I called him back to me or told him to “waaait.” Of course, I did have treats in my pocket, but he did not always have to be told that I had a treat for him in order to obey.

I thought perhaps my dogs are like our spiritual formation. When we are young in the faith and driven by our “craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions” (1 John 2:15-17), we need to be closely tethered to Someone in order to learn how life is works. That would be Sophie.

Then we become more mature in the faith so there comes a point when Jesus sets us free to simply be who we are. “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.” (Romans 6:18.) That would be Obie. Jesus trusts us. He knows that we will come to Him and will “waaaait” on him, even if we don’t get “treats” all the time.

Then there comes a time in life when we wear out and we lose our strength, but we still press on in life, knowing our Master has an eye on us and will not let us have more than we can stand. That would be Buddy. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16.)

I believe that I am a mixture of my dogs these days. I do so want to be Obie. But my Master is patient with me even as I am patient with Sophie. He loves me as I love each of my dogs and even more so. I know that just like Buddy, He’s got me as I walk with Him the rest of my life.

Like I said, it was a glorious walk. I was reminded of something Dallas Willard points out and Brother Lawrence (The Practice of the Presence of God) lived out, “God wants to be in a continual conversation with you.” That was certainly true with me this morning.