Today is Wednesday, April 28th, 2004; Karen's Korner #283

This is something which I wrote awhile ago; I have updated it to reflect how old our dog, Lady is at the present time:

 

Running Free

            Our family has had Lady, a nearly five-year-old, mid-sized dog for almost two years now. After a short stay in the Des Moines pound, we adopted Lady and brought her to our farm home.

            Many times farm dogs can run free. But for the first few months, when we would leave for a short period of time we would tie her up. She didn’t know where home was and would follow us down our gravel road farther than we thought was safe for her and for her return home.

            Now, she knows where home is. When we leave, she is left free to roam. If she wants to go outside when we are here, we let her go. She runs over to the neighbor’s to visit their two dogs – Flash and Bagel. Sometimes Lady digs into a brush pile in our back grove; maybe she chases a bird or rabbit. She enjoys running around and we enjoy letting her. She enjoys her world!

            But this new freedom is not without drawbacks! When some of the dried weeds and their seeds in our grove get tangled up in her hair, she comes back to us with matted ears, tail, and haunches. My husband, Jim, and I hang on to her and with scissors or a knife, we hack and whittle on Lady until all of her hair can be combed again.

            This morning I noticed, she looks like she has been given a haircut by one of daughters when they were three years old. Lots of hair on ear. A blunt cut on the other. The tip of her tail is butched off.  The hair on her haunches isn’t as thick, sleek and flowing as it used to be. But Jim and I aren’t willing to tie her up, so she “looks” better. We like to allow her the freedom to enjoy and explore her world.

            I wonder if that is the kind of relationship we have with God. He knows if He would tie us up or tie us down, we have the potential to be more “beautiful”. But He really wants us to explore and enjoy the world He has given to us. He takes big risks that we will forget where home is. We might run away. He lets us run. He never makes us pray or worship Him.

            Whenever we come back home and scratch on the door for Him to let us in – yukky hair and all, He does what Jim and I do to Lady – He opens the door and lets us in. If we need some weed seeds removed from us, He can comb and cut them out. We might look a bit more scraggly than we did before. But that is a risk God is willing to take!

            And like Lady, our hair coats will re-grow and we will just as beautiful as before we were allowed to run free! The next time we want to go out and explore our world – once again He opens the door!
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