Lesson Under the Early Morning Stars

My morning was fraught with mishap. Before Honey left for work, we loaded the car with things we had gathered to donate; he will drop them off today. Honey had propped the outside door on the back porch open for easy access. To my dismay, I discovered I never closed it when I came in. The older dogs run straight outside when released from their kennels, I was lagging behind taking care of things with the puppy. Once outside with her, horror filled my heart because the dogs were not in their potty yard but roaming free in our unfenced back area. Not good!

I called them and two of the three ran back inside. Pan Dulce, normally an obedient dog, just watched me from a distance, ignoring my call….then the next, and the next, and the next. Not to be outwitted by a 3 ½ pound canine, I sat on the ground holding a treat in my hand to wait him out. As I sat on the chilly, damp, hard ground full of who knows what kind of creepy crawlers…and let's not forget the sticker burrs…I called lovingly to Pan Dulce. He is the consummate lap dog and typically cannot resist an offered lap. Not his morning! "Plan A" did not pan (pardon the pun) out.

Needing another plan of action, I got up and tried to walk toward him. This would have worked…if he had stood still!!! But, NOOOO, he would stay just out of reach and dash off if I ventured nearer. I called him in that loving 'mama' tone, I changed to the authoritative "Alpha pack leader" tone, I did not whine nor yell, though my frustration level was rising quickly! "Plan B" also failed.

 I went inside to get some of his food, knowing he would want that. He did want it, he would come in close enough to take a good whiff but young Pan is quicker than his mama…especially when she sits on the ground…and he'd take off when I lounged at him.

Then came the tap, the Holy Tap on my shoulder, the morning nudge from God to remind me to pay attention…looking up at the dark sky full of stars, I waited….here's what I heard Him say in my spirit: "This is how My children are with Me. They run away when excited about something out in the world. They will look to Me from a distance but not heed My call. When My hand is extended they come running in anticipation but stop short of commitment. What would you show them to make them want Me and come to Me?" Hmmm. Deep stuff, that question. What would I show them?

People would rather see a sermon than hear one and all I could show them was God's love for me. "Thank you, Lord!" I took Nikos out of the fence and sat down to love all over him. He 'kissed' me and I hugged him. Just love all around. It was only a matter of seconds before Pan Dulce was in  my lap wanting to be loved, too! Whoo hoo! Thank you, Jesus! That would have made a good ending to the story… if it had been the end.

As I tried to get up with a dog under each arm, I stumbled and fell back down on the rock in the French Drain hidden under the grass. My knee took the worse of the blow and pain shot up my body. It was the kind of pain that makes you queasy and sweaty. I couldn't put the dogs down, so I struggled again and again to get on my feet. Once safely behind the fence, I limped inside after hugging the two bundles of love in my arms. I checked out my knee in the light. It is swollen and bruised. The words from the Christian song, "By His Wounds" rushed to my mind, it's from Isaiah 53:5. This is the verse repeated in the song and chorus:

He was pierced for our transgressions
And crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

We are healed by Your sacrifice
And the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved
We are saved

Isn't wonderful how God uses everyday life to show us something! I love the life lessons He shares with me. I know God may have used this incident to help me retrieve my dog and remind me to show the love of Christ to win others to Him. But, I also know He may have orchestrated this incident because someone reading this needed to hear it. Regardless, a side lesson is that God is in everything, absolutely everything, we just have to watch and listen for Him.