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ANOTHER LESSON FROM MY DOGS
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
The older I get, the more I am learning that attitude is everything. Two people can be in the same meeting and hear the same words being said, but the meaning they get from the words they have heard will be determined by their attitude.
Today, I learned a valuable lesson from my dogs about that very thing.
Della and I own 3 mixed breed large dogs: Dakota, Cole, and Cowboy.
Dakota is the mother of the other two. She's a mixed breed lab, huskey, and Weimaraner. Cole and Cowboy have those breeds in them , plus Chow and Staffordshire Terrier. We love all three of them, but they all have vasty different personalities. And with those personalities come attitudes. And those attitudes affect how they see things and how they react to certain situations.
Dakota is a little bit full of herself. The rest of us live in her world in her opinion. She's got a big heart. But she holds it in reserve. She wants attention when she wants it and how she wants it. It's her way or no way at all. So consequently, she suffers and so do we. She gets in trouble for scratching our arms trying to get our attention when we're busy trying to do something else- like sleep. She sulks in the position she's in (chair, corner, carpet, etc) rather than respond to a call to come to us so we can pet her, etc, when we have the opportunity to do so. But, she's ours and we love her dearly.
Cowboy is a bighearted little boy with a bit of attitude. He's the smallest of the boys in his litter and therefore he has the small dog attitude. He wants to prove (mostly out of fear) that he's just as big and bad as his brothers. This has caused him to be hurt by his brothers. Consequently, he walks around with both a chip on his shoulder and a heart that screams "somebody love me, please!" So when it comes to Della and I, Cowboy tends to hang back from fear, but when he sees a clear opening, he charges in happily to gain our attention. He is most at peace when he's laying on one of us in some way with us stroking his head and neck.
Cole is the big ball of sunshine. He's not perfect. He can sometimes be a little full of himself. But, mostly, he's happy go lucky. He charges in for our attention like he hasn't seen us in years- even if we just stepped out the door and came right back in. He's quick to climb up in my lap or jump up on the bed and begin to kiss Della or I just to say: "I love you! I love you!" And Cole is so sensitive to the moods of his masters that he lovingly responds when we are upset. He can't fix whatever is bugging us, but his loving response helps to ease our aggravation.
That having been said, due to their attitudes, I am closer to Cole, who I call my 120 pound lapdog, than I am the other two.
I love them all the same, but it appears to the other two that Cole is my favorite.
But the truth is that Cole from day one has actively worked at showing us his love and building a relationship with Della and I. He doesn't expect us to meet him on his terms. He just takes full advantage of every opportunity he has to tell us he loves us and to show it in every way he can. He deliberately spends as much quality time as he possibly can with us.
The difference between the three is their attitude. The difference between our relationships with them is their attitude.
It's the same with us and God. Jesus loves us all the same. Jesus died on the cross for us all. Jesus gives the same offer of salvation to all. "And few there be that find it. Matthew 7:14"
Even to those of us who are born again, there can be a difference between our individual relationships with God.
Some of us are like Dakota. We love God, but we expect him to do what we want, when we want, and how how we want. And when he doesn't, we try to punish him by holding ourselves back and giving him our cold shoulder. All the while, we long to be close to him and held in his arms. Sometimes, we'll take jabs at God to try and scratch him to get him to move in the way we want him to. But God is God and we ain't. He moves and does things when he knows it's right for us and the right time for it to happen. All the while, he beckons for us to come close and let him give us the love he wants to share.
Some of us are like Cowboy. We have low self esteem- even though the cross proves just how valuable to God we truly are. We spend our time fighting with our brothers in an effort to show that we're just as good as they are. We try and get the attention of those that we don't feel threatened by to gain their approval and feel validated. And when an opportunity comes where we feel totally safe, then we drop all our walls and run to Jesus screaming, "I love you, daddy, I love you!" And for a short time, we feel the love and acceptance we truly long for. A love that we truly had all along, if we had just not held ourselves back. And sometimes, we even get to lay our head in the lap of our master to soak in as much love as we possibly can- in perfect peace.
And some of us are like Cole. It doesn't matter to us what others think, we're going to charge in to be as close to Jesus as we can at every opportunity. Sometimes, we do dumb things and get into trouble because we get our attention diverted by things other than our master. But, always we run back to him looking to lavish him with our love and build our relationship with him. And like Cole, we are sensitive to the moods of our Lord. We become instantly attuned and are moved by what moves Jesus.
The truth is that we probably all have moments where we are all 3. Sometimes we act like Dakota. Sometimes we act like Cowboy. And sometimes we act like Cole.
But always, God is totally in love with us and has our best interest and care in mind.
So the question, every day, truly is what is our attitude with God? Because what our attitude is will determine our relationship with God and what we are able to get from God.
