Spiritual lesson from a big furry mutt (October 7, 2002)

Saturday my wife and I were in and out with running several errands. When we left together in the early afternoon, we were a bit surprised that the dog didn’t follow us to the garage door, like he usually does. My wife thought he was enjoying the beautiful weather in the back yard, which made sense to me.

When we came home about five hours later, though, the dog didn’t greet us – very odd indeed. I went into the back yard, to see if he was ill or injured. I couldn’t find him at all. My wife heard him crying in the basement. Before we left, he must have followed me into the basement without my noticing, only he didn’t get out of the basement before I closed the door. He didn’t make enough noise about it right away for me to notice where he was.

The dog did something good in following me, but he didn’t follow me enough. The same is too often true of my relationship with my Master. I don’t follow enough. I follow only a little and end up stuck in dark basements rather than experiencing the joy and freedom for which I was created.

May God grant me grace to follow Him more.