Dave's Deep Thoughts - Hannah & Spiritual Growth

 

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.

 

It is said that there is always the calm before the storm.

That would assume there is calm afterwards as well.

But what if the storm never goes away?

 

This summer a puppy named Hannah

came to be a part of the household.

 

Hannah is a yellow Labrador

with eyes that will melt your heart

and a tail that continually wags with joy.

 

When she arrived she was 27 pounds.

In a culture where females and weight

are rarely mentioned in the same sentence,

Hannah proudly weighs forty something

headed on to seventy something.

 

She is ALL puppy.

In a house with 80% hardwood floors,

Hannah managed to do "puppy pees"

on the carpet 90% of the time.

Nothin' says love like a hot steam mop.

Don't even get me started on the poo poos.....

 

Since she is crated,

she has a safe spot to go to.

That would be a safe spot for the humans.

 

It didn't take long to learn

that if Hannah was freed from her crate,

there had better be a set of eyes on her at all times.

 

Yes, you can try to "puppy proof" a house,

but to do so,

you had better be prepared to levitate everything

a minimum of three feet off the floor.......

furniture included.

 

Because she is in the teething stage,

Hannah wants to chew on anything and everything.......

that would include household appliances, furniture, and most body limbs.

 

Oh yes, she has toys with which to play........

about a gazillion of them.

Walking across the floor is

tantamount to a soldier navigating a mine field.

Getting to the bathroom in the dark at night.......

you'd better have a mine sweeper.

 

Yesterday morning,

when I was the only human being in the house,

I looked at Hannah as she lay in her crate.

First mistake

 

In a language only spoken by dog eyes,

she wooed me to be freed.

If I was Odysseus,

she was the siren

and I was drawn into her song of deliverance

like a love starved sailor.

 

As I opened the gate to her freedom,

I gave her the

"do not eat the house or small children" speech.

 

I gave her a chew toy the size of a modest

2 by 4 piece of lumber,

thinking that would occupy her

while I went to my upstairs office to do some work.

2nd mistake

 

Within ten minutes,

I had to go and retrieve the following items from her mouth.......

 

a bedroom slipper

an aerosol can

a cd

a tv remote

a flashlight

a compact cd player

a variety of cans & bottles from the recycle bin

and a rocking chair.

 

After the last rescue, I needed to use the bathroom.

Upon returning, I did not shut the door.

3rd mistake

 

It was then that Hannah discovered

the magical world of toilet paper.

Unlike other contraband,

toilet paper makes no perceptible sound

when used as a doggie toy.

 

As I worked in my office,

it was fairly quiet.

No chewing sounds,

just the playful scampering of one happy pup.

All is well, I thought.

4th mistake.

 

Oh, she was one happy puppy.....

happily toilet papering the entire downstairs

like a Halloween prankster.

 

Raising a puppy requires

time, energy, and patience,

much like raising children,

except for paying college tuition

and attending games/recitals.

 

And like raising children,

there is no comprehensive

how-to-do-it book.

Sometimes you just learn from your mistakes.

 

That's how it is often with our spiritual growth.

When I think back on my maturity as a Christian,

it has more often than not,

been my mistakes rather than my triumphs

that have taught me

how to be like Christ.

 

Through his three denials of Christ,

Peter eventually learned how to surrender his life to God's will.

 

Through their desire to find a place of spiritual privilege with Jesus,

James & John eventually learned that it would require their lives.

 

Through his passionate persecution of Christians,

Paul learned that He would become a bearer of The Way to the world.

 

The storms of life and the mistakes we make can cause us to grow,

if we pay attention to them and learn from them.

No one seeks out storms or mistakes.

But if they mold us more into Christ's likeness,

how much more should we be able to learn from them,

and use them to become in practice who we are already are positionally in Christ?

 

I am told that Hannah will soon be going into heat.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

More lessons to be learned.

 

Therefore be careful how you walk,

not as unwise men, but as wise,

making the most of your time,

because the days are evil.

So then, do not be foolish,

but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17