Spiritual Lesson from a big furry mutt –

My dog is wonderful, but he doesn’t care much for other animals. He’s only disliked one person we’ve ever met, but he doesn’t like any squirrels, cats, foxes, raccoons or especially other dogs. When he sees other dogs, he starts to jump around and menace them. Since he’s over 80 pounds, that can be a handful. Not many other dogs back down from him quickly, though.

Yesterday when I took him out for the morning walk, we ran across two other dogs before we’d even left the front yard. He got worked up as always. A few houses down, we ran into a barking boxer. Not much farther was a pointer. In the park were a few small dogs and a labrador retriever.

Since we hadn’t established a nice calm rhythm for our walk, his reactions to the other dogs were even more agitated than they usually would be.

It’s similar for me. If I don’t start my day (or some part within the day) with the right perspective – the perspective of the eternal and of my own brokenness, rather than a perspective of self-gratification – I don’t do very well. If I have the right perspective and the right rhythm to my day or task, though, I don’t do as badly.

May God give me the grace to keep my eyes fixed on that which is important.