everything becomes a potential subject for, ... the blog. So, around 3:00 A.M. this morning, I was thinking, 'how can I blog this?' This is Maggie, our Old English Sheepdog. This is pretty much what she looked like at 3:00 A.M. this morning, too.
Maggie became a member of our family when she was 6 weeks old... that was over 11 years ago. So, in dog years, she's about 79. She's acting her age and doing some odd things she never did before. She's the only dog we've ever had, so I don't know if it's normal behavior, but then again, she's NEVER been normal. But I love her, nonetheless.
She's got arthritis in her back legs, so she doesn't do steps anymore. This is a challenge in a split entry home. Lately, she's also decided that she likes sleeping in the living room at night instead in our bedroom, AND she doesn't like to sleep there alone. So, around 1:00 A.M. for the past 4 nights, she's been in the living room, barking. Loudly. If one of us goes and sits with her, she'll lie down there and go to sleep. But if we get up and move back to the bedroom, she knows... and she starts barking and pacing again. So, for the past two nights, I've been up with her (and Bruce the two nights prior to that). And while Maggie CAN sleep in the living room, I CAN'T. I really can't reason with her, and she's too big to carry, so I sit with her, I have compassion on her. And, wide awake, I think, 'how can I blog this?'
I mentioned once before that one of my all time favorite books is Le Petite Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de St. Exupéry. I was thinking about a quote from that book, which says, "Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce qu tu as apprivoisé." In English, it translates, "You become forever responsible for that which you have tamed." I majored in French in college, so I've read it in it's original language, and the French word apprivoisé carries more meaning than the English counterpart, tamed. It is used here as domesticated, but it is describing a relationship which involves one party depending upon, trusting in, and expecting from the other. It is not like a lion tamer subduing a lion with a chair and a whip, but it implies a voluntary submission of one to the other based upon a lesson learned, a character known. I tamed Maggie; I feed her regularly, walk her, talk to her. She has come to trust that I'd never harm her, that I'll protect her, and our home is her refuge. She has become comfortable as my companion, and she seeks me out, and shows me her affection... often with a big sloppy tongue. She barks, I pay attention.
So, at 3:00 A.M. this morning, I got to thinking that I'm a lot like Maggie, and I have been apprivoisée by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I've voluntarily submitted myself to Him, depend on Him and expect Him to do all He says He'll do. He's responsible for me, forever. I actually was struggling with some troubling thoughts of my own last night and wasn't resting anyway. I was praying about the situation, ...and I think I may have been barking and pacing. As I drew the parallel in my mind, He sat down with me. I was able to sort out my thoughts, and reject the ones that I know aren't in His Word, and which don't align with the charcter of God I've come to know. I chose to allow His peace to surpass my understanding. Though I was tired, I felt much better. I pondered this:
For everyone who asks [barks] receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matt. 7:7-11
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