A Lesson From My Puppy

Saturday we got a new puppy--a six-week-old yellow Lab. We named him Clyde. I had a friend tell me, "You're going to learn a lot from Clyde."

What she said went straight to my heart. I knew it was the truth, but I couldn't imagine what Clyde would have to teach me.

Lesson One came today.

I clipped on his John Deere leash. "If you would just relax and trust me, we could have fun walking together."

I'm not going to fight with him, but I figured how how to take a few baby steps with the leash training process.I coax him with a taste of food and praise him big time. But sometimes, he refuses to move. So we stand there.

"Clyde, if you'll just chill out, we can have fun. See these woods around the house? You and I could go check everything out together."

But he's not ready to listen to me. He must think he knows best.

And so many times, I'm not ready to listen to God. I like to try and do so things in my own strength. I want to figure out life ahead of time--have answers for everything--the whys and hows and whens. Run ahead of God. Do things my way.

But God keeps bringing me back to the same place.

A place where I can't do it without Him.

"Clyde, buddy, relax. Trust me," I say. I bet God is saying the same thing. "Relax, Julie. You can trust me. I know the future. Stick close to me."

This morning, I was reading the Bible and a verse jumped off the page at me.

Isaiah 30:15. "....in quietness and confidence shall be your strength..."

A good verse for me. And for Clyde. I have a feeling my friend was right. Clyde has so much to teach me.

Love,
Julie