One Hungry Dog
I couldn’t feed our dog this morning.
For Tucker, there is no happier time on the earth than when he gets fed first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon. He is the embodiment of joy when we open the food container.
However, today, we couldn’t feed him. He’s been scratching intensely for months, and the vet has decided to do some intensive allergy tests today. He needs to be sedated, so he couldn’t eat this morning.
If dogs can feel sadness, Tucker was sad. I got up and let him out as usual, but instead of feeding him afterwards, I went directly to my morning workout. He was confused and did everything he could to “remind” me that the dog was, indeed, hungry. He danced and pranced and ran in circles and anything else his canine mind could conceive to get me to feed him.
But I couldn’t. I knew the only way we could solve the allergy problem was to have the tests run, and that meant no food. I had no way to communicate that to him. Even if I told him, he wouldn’t understand. All he knows is that he counts on me to feed him, and I didn’t. All I knew is that I had to inflict short-term discomfort for his long-term benefit.
Interestingly, eventually he just accepted it. He went back upstairs and laid down on his blanket. He didn’t keep trying to get me to feed him. He didn’t whine and bark and complain. I’m sure he wasn’t happy, but he eventually accepted his food-less state of being.
I wonder if God feels the way I did this morning when He has to put me through a test that He couldn’t possibly explain to me, because I would never understand. I wonder why it’s so hard to go lie down on my blanket and accept my state because my Master knows better. He knows what He’s doing, and is probably pleased when I don’t spend all my time whining and barking and complaining.
posted by Matt @ 12:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home