My daughter rescued a dog today. Well, not “rescued,” really. It was our neighbor’s dog, and he’d gotten out of the yard, so she followed him down the street aways until she got a hold of him, and then led him back to his own yard.
I’m not a big fan of dogs, so I really didn’t want anything to do with the whole situation. But as soon as I realized what she was doing, I went into our kitchen to get a couple of dog cookies for her, so that she could get his attention and lure him to her.
Helping the dog was her thing. I wasn’t really feeling called by God to do that, if you know what I mean. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t do something to help her as she stepped out to help.
Sometimes we’re on the front lines, sometimes we’re the support and encouragement.
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My son said something funny today while we were doing math. We usually end up laughing while we’re doing math. One or both of us says or does something silly or goofy, and it makes the whole experience more enjoyable.
But it might not surprise you to know that doing math is not his favorite time of day. It’s sometimes hard, sometimes confusing, sometimes time-consuming. He dreads it and always tries to convince me that we should do it later. Or tomorrow. Or 10:00 next summer. Today, as we finished laughing about something, he said thoughtfully, “We always have fun when we do math. Reluctant fun.”
Caroline Ingalls used to say to her daughters, “What must be borne should be borne cheerfully.” James 1 says to “count it all joy” when you fall into various trials. There can be joy even in what’s difficult.
Light Expectations 