Walking the dog. It’s a chore. Somedays anyway. Can be fun sometimes too.
“What? There’s 8 inches of fresh snow and I need to take the dog for a walk?”
“Oh, It’s raining and I have to take the dog for a walk?” Great, we’ll both get soaked (like it’s that rain that soaks right through your rain coat so you really are soaked and have to peel the clothes off) and then the house is going to smell like wet dog and everyone is going to blame him and me. Argh.
But that’s the deal, we have a dog, he’s young and energetic (also referred to as wild and crazy) so he needs walks. So we go. And honestly, it’s the best exercise I get — most fun, most consistent. I seldom have a bad walk with him.
But sometimes.
We got through the winter snows, we’re still working on the spring rains (yup raining some today). But there are so many better days of sunshine and trees blossoming, flowers blooming and wildlife popping up everywhere.
In the past 2 weeks, we’ve seen rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels (okay there’s a million of them), robins, cardinals, sparrows, woodpeckers, groundhogs, deer, fox, a coyote, Canada geese, and ducks. I never see a beaver but I see the trees it has cut. There’s new life popping up everywhere.
It’s like that in our faith, there’s new life everywhere if we’ll just look.
There’s days when I spend time with God in the morning (early or late) and God speaks. He tells or shows me something that changes my week, month, life. He speaks to my pain, direction, or confusion. He shows me the way.
God brings colour into my life — surprising, beautiful colour.
With walking the dog it doesn’t happen unless I put myself out there. I have to leave my chair, bundle up, clip on his leash and go.
With quiet times, if I don’t take the time and pause to be with God, singing, reading, praying, journalling then I miss out. I have to leave my busyness, routine, ‘important’ tasks to do what is actually needed NOW.
And there’s new life awaiting.
But some days I still struggle with it, doing the right and needed thing at the right time. You’d think I’d get it.
So from one struggler to another, I encourage you to take the time and focus and energy and look for the new life that God can show and tell you each day. It’s worth it.
It’s like your faith is a dog and it really needs it’s daily walk.
God bless you, I’m going to take the dog now.
Jim
