Lessons in our daily lives

 

I like to think that the Creator and Sustainer of our world has spiritual lessons to teach us daily as we go about the lives that we sometimes think are mundane. Well, my day yesterday wasn’t boring or mundane.  It was sweet, scary, nice…Let me just talk about the walk with my puppy. (So, I’m just going to call the puppy’s name because the more I typed the weirder it was to continue saying “the puppy.” Her name is Winda.) The sweet part: As we were walking in my little hometown, a mom was getting a little boy out of the car at their house. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he started running toward us saying something that I suppose was either “Dog” or “Puppy.” I kept walking with Winda because I didn’t want the mom to be afraid Winda would hurt the baby. But the little boy just kept running. Mom came running, scooped him up, and apologized to me. I said “It’s fine. She’s just a puppy and needs to learn to ignore distractions.” We didn’t really talk after that, just some talking to the little boy about his shirt, then we kept walking. The scary part: Later in the walk a group of free roaming dogs came running toward us. I turned us around to go the opposite direction, but they just kept running after us. The only thing I could think of was to tell Winda to sit, because in my mind if she wasn’t aggressive, they wouldn’t be either. She sat but was very concerned about the dogs coming up behind us. I basically froze because I didn’t know what to do. The nice part: Some men were doing renovations to an old church building to convert it to a wedding venue. One of the men saw what was happening, ran out of the building still holding a hammer in his hand, yelling “Get on out of here!” to the dogs. The dogs ran off. Whew. The man and I talked a while about the dogs. He suggested that I let animal control know what happened. Since this is a small town, the water office, police department, animal control, and courtroom are all in a small building. I stopped to tell them what happened. The policeman came out and talked to me. He let Winda smell his hand and was patient with me while I reminded her to sit and place. He said he would go assess the situation with the dogs. All that was within an hour of my day. I’ve been thinking about it. What lesson is there in this? 

Mark 10:13-16 HCSB 13 Some people were bringing little children to Him so He might touch them, but His disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 After taking them in His arms, He laid His hands on them and blessed them.

We always say that Jesus loves the children, but this scripture shows His compassion for the children clearly. He was indignant when the disciples sent them away. We need to take our interactions with children seriously. We have so much to learn from them. Their innocence. Their lack of fear. Some adults see a German Shepherd and are afraid. This child just wanted to see the puppy. We are to have the kind of trust in God that children have. 

Psalm 138:7 HCSB 

If I walk into the thick of danger,

You will preserve my life

from the anger of my enemies.

You will extend Your hand;

Your right hand will save me.

When we are in danger and have no idea what to do, God is with us. Isn’t it interesting that the help that God sent to me yesterday was working in a building where people once met to worship Him? 

Psalm 28:7 HCSB 

The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart rejoices,

and I praise Him with my song.

Winda trusted me in three different situations: the sweet little boy, the aggressive dogs, the police officer. I trusted Winda to obey my commands, the man who helped me and the police officer. But who do we really trust? No one is worthy of our trust except God. He is our strength and our shield. 

Today when I walked with Winda, we completely avoided the area where the aggressive dogs were. I didn’t have enough trust to believe that had been contained in a safe environment. What else should we avoid?

Romans 16:17-18 HCSB 17 Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause dissensions and obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have learned. Avoid them, 18 for such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words.

We need to avoid false teachers. My definition of that is anyone who teaches things that are not consistent with the entire scripture. Read and study the scriptures for ourselves. 

Acts 17:11 NIV 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.