Retriever Revelations

This is our Golden Retriever, Bailie.  She actually teaches me a lot.  When it comes to “spiritual growth,” I’d rather read a book or attend a conference (you know, conventional/predictable learning), but God prefers to teach me through the dog, the kids, and in the everyday grind of life.  (As you might sense here, we disagree frequently, but He is God, so I can’t really tell Him what to do, even though I try . . . more often than I care to admit.)

This is a picture of persistence.  When Bailie wants something, she doesn’t bark or whine or do tricks to get my attention.  She STARES.  And she stares.  And she stares.  She has single-minded focus.  (And she breathes her bad breath in my direction and sometimes puts a paw on my leg, until I finally take action.)

Sometimes God provides images that help bring His words to life, and this image of Bailie staring at me always makes me think of the Hebrews verses (3:1 and 12:2) that talk about how we should “fix” our eyes or our thoughts on Jesus.

Bailie locks in on me like she is trying to send me a mental message, and she usually stares when she wants one of three things:  1) attention, 2) food, 3) to go outside.

I’ve been looking for a new “mantra” or prayer focus, and our dog has provided it.  Meditation is not my thing (I have a chattery monkey mind), so I need a little guidance – sometimes I use the “Smiling Mind” app on my phone or I try to focus on the “gateway to silence” phrase from Richard Rohr’s daily devotional.  But it turns out, Bailie was giving me meditative phrases and prayer guidance all along . . . “love me,” “feed me,” and “open the door.”

LOVE ME

Isn’t that where it all starts?  We need to be convinced of God’s love before we can fully love ourselves or others.  As my kids’ favorite Bible story book puts it . . . “God’s Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love ….” (Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd Jones).

I SAY I believe God loves me, but do I LIVE like it?  Something inside me whispers that if only I prayed more, served more, sacrificed more, got my act together . . . if I could just be more . . . that God would love me more.  I have to fight against that lie and learn to rest in God’s love.

In the moments when I really believe it, it is the most freeing feeling in the world . . . to be known, to be loved by God, who created the universe (including me!).

When I see the intricacies of nature, when I witness the artistry of a gorgeous sunset . . . those moments blow me away because I am reminded that the same God who created those beautiful mysteries also created me, and that He actually cares about my little life.

It’s humbling and yet it makes me feel significant to be part of God’s story — to know that, somehow, He can use my life (whatever that looks like) to reveal something about Himself to the world (maybe I’m here to reveal His warped sense of humor!).  Believing God loves me, makes life worth living; it makes the most mundane things relevant; it makes my small, short life feel important; and it makes me want to love others because God loves me.

FEED ME

This has both physical and spiritual implications for me (I am more and more convinced that the two are closely connected) as I seek to live a healthier lifestyle and not be a slave to my stomach.  The most humbling verse I stumbled upon recently is from Philippians 3:19 (describing “enemies of the cross”): “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.  Their mind is set on earthly things.”  Ouch.  I especially dislike the part “their god is their stomach” because it hits a little too close to home.  Or, to put it in Southern’ease, my Grandpa Riddle used to say, “He’s digging his grave with his teeth.”

Maybe food isn’t your hang-up, but we all have needs, and those needs can become our god – we can get more focused on the gifts than the giver.

Spiritually, saying “feed me,” reminds me of “give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord’s Prayer.  It reminds me that everything comes from God and I need Him.  I need Him to sustain me physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.

There are SO many food references and places in the Bible that talk about how God wants to fill us.  And He uses good imagery to let us know that He “gets it.”  He doesn’t say, “I’m the broccoli of life” – He says, “I am the bread of life.”  (Yes, please!)  Whatever it is we are hungry for, we can come to Him.  He says “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things.” (Psalm 81:10)

God created everything (including chocolate!) and He knows us intimately.  He knows what will grow us, fulfill us, challenge us, bring us joy and purpose.  When I ask Him to “feed me,” I know I can trust Him (even if it means broccoli instead of bread; even if it means pain instead of comfort — I can trust Him).

OPEN THE DOOR

Okay, so this doesn’t have the same context as when Bailie wants me to open the door.  She wants out to do her business or run around in the fresh air.  When I say “open the door,” it means two things to me:

• Open the door of Your love and wisdom . . . teach me
• Help me to open the door for others

God loves us and gives us free will, so He’s not going to force His way into our lives.  That’s why I try to actively invite God into my day, into my life . . . to open the door.  “Look!  I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends.” (Rev. 3:20)

I also ask regularly that God will help me not to be a barrier to others who are seeking Him.  There are so many verses like this in the Bible that scare the crap out of me: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites!  For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces.  You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others in either.” (Matthew 23:13)

I never want to shut the door of God’s love, but I know I still do it all the time.  Rejecting God is incredibly sad, but even worse (at least to me), are people who say they have experienced the love of God and yet they slam shut the door of God’s love in the face of other people.  It’s the thing that makes me the angriest.

God keeps me humble by consistently showing me my hypocrisy.  I want to reject people who reject people.  I want to judge people who judge people.  I want to hate people who hate people.  And that means I’m shutting the door of God’s love in their faces.  None of us can escape this human tendency, so we have to be aware of it and ask God to help us love ALL people, the way He does.

I like how Bob Goff puts it: “He (Jesus) said the people who followed Him should think of themselves more like the ushers than the bouncers, and it would be God who decides who gets in.  We’re the ones who simply show people their seats that someone else paid for.” (from Love Does)

God already knows my heart, but there are lessons to be learned in persisting and being faithful. (“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Matt. 7:7)

So following my dog’s example, I hope to “fix my eyes on Jesus” and ask God to “love me,” “feed me,” and “open the door.” (And maybe, like Bailie, I’ll take some naps and get excited about exercise too . . . not!)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  Hebrews 12:1-2