“seek a homeland”
Hebrews 11:14
~
Our puppy dog embarked on a new life over Christmas, albeit a brief one. We went to visit family in Texas, and she went to the “dog hotel” as the Apple of my Eye calls it. It was the fourth “life” she had had, in her furry, 8-month-long life.
She has been with us since July, when we adopted her from the shelter. We don’t know how long she’d been there, or where she had lived before that; all we know is that our home was her third.
So I wonder what she thought during that week she stayed at the dog hotel. Did she think they were her new owners? Did she think we were permanently gone? That this was like the shelter, and soon she’d get new owners?
Or did she just live in the moment? She had food and water, a bed and a roof, warm hands and loving voices, just like she gets at home. Maybe that’s all that mattered to her.
There’s no way to know, of course, what was in her little puppy head. And I’m probably giving her more credit than I should, as far as her brain, or thought capacity. All I know how to imagine is what I’d be thinking if I were in those circumstances.
And if I were a dog.
Me? As a human? Well, I’d be drawing all sorts of potential conclusions. Analyzing, calculating, looking at details of past experiences of my own, and wisdom I’d gleaned from others. But if our Calypso did that, she would have come to the wrong conclusion. After all, the only time she’d been in a similar scenario ~ the shelter ~ when it was over, it was because she was now the property of strangers. That scenario will never happen again. But she has no way of knowing that. And there’s a fair chance that whatever conclusion I came to wouldn’t be any more correct than her conclusion.
If, in fact, she came to any conclusion.
If, in fact, she was even thinking about it.
We spend a great deal of time, we humans, trying to figure out what’s going to happen next. Trying to prepare for it, and have some control over it. And that’s fine. Great, even. I think it’s how God designed us to be. That’s why it comes so naturally to us. And planning is often necessary and wise.
The trick is in not studying the portents ~ real and imaginary ~ so much that we’re forgetting to just enjoy the fact that we have food and water, a bed and a roof, warm hands and loving voices.
Calypso slept soundly the night we brought her home. Relaxed and trusting. And that’s a goal we all should have ~ the faith and trust that leads to a good night’s sleep, resting in Him.
Light Expectations 