December 2017 Articles

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Spiritual Corner: Four-Legged Life Lessons

Spiritual Corner: 4-Legged Life Lessons
My husband Randy and I just recently added to our family. Don’t get too excited—I’m not talking children, at least not human children. We adopted another dog to add to the one rescue cat and one rescue dog that we currently already own. Let me tell you just a little about the pets. We have Sutton, our chubby, black and white cat. He has a somewhat ornery personality and has an obvious favorite parent (Randy). Then there’s Charlie, our black Lab, Weimaraner, Great Dane mix. He’s my baby and literally does not know that he isn’t actually a human child. He’s also the sweetest creature I know. Back in October, we adopted Rylie, our white Pitt mix who we call our tomboy princess. She’s as pretty as can be, but loves to dig holes, play in water, and just have fun. Sutton is 3 and a half, Charlie is 4 and a half, and Rylie is just barely over 9 months old. All three of our animals are inside pets, but unfortunately for Rylie, she has to stay in her crate when we’re not home. This is because she is still working on being house broken and because she loves to chew up things. The poor girl hates being put in her crate. She just wants to be out loose in the house when we’re not home, just like Charlie and Sutton. Hopefully this will be a reality someday. Anyways, about a month ago, I was trying to load her up in her crate before I left the house. I said, “Rylie, get in your crate.” Nothing doing. I said it a little louder, “Rylie, get in your crate.” Nope. I put more volume, force, and assertiveness in my voice, “Rylie, get in your crate!” I reached to grab her collar (as she is still avoiding the inevitable) and what do you know but Charlie is trying to climb inside her crate! I laugh and say, “No boy, it’s okay. It’s not you that I need in the crate.” Charlie comes back out so I load Rylie up, tell the pets bye, and head out the door for a bit.
You might be wondering why I told you this story. I told it because I feel like it can really relate to us spiritually. I couldn’t stop thinking about how my sweet Charlie was climbing in Rylie’s crate for her. It just stuck with me. You see, Charlie is extremely obedient. Even though I wasn’t telling HIM to get in the crate, he stepped up to do it just in case that’s what I was asking. He was ready and willing to do whatever I asked. Charlie also doesn’t like conflict. He recognized immediately that I was fussing at Rylie so instead of having me frustrated and fussing, he was stepping up to take Rylie’s place in the crate to avoid the conflict. Rylie, on the other hand, doesn’t really enjoy being fussed at either, however, often times her strong will is stronger than her will to behave and not get in trouble. Let’s look at this situation from a spiritual perspective. In my mind, Charlie and his actions symbolized Jesus. Jesus was 100% obedient to His heavenly father—obedient even to the point of death on a cross! Jesus knew the wrath that God has against sin and he didn’t want us to have to endure it. He wanted us to have the chance of being reconciled to God and have an eternity in heaven with Him. So just like Charlie was upset by the frustration he knew that his master was feeling, and therefore made the sacrifice of going in the crate for Rylie, Jesus recognized God’s hatred of sin, and made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for each and every one of us. Thank you Jesus! Let’s look at this situation from yet another angle. How often do we actually feel or act like Rylie? We don’t necessarily like getting in trouble or doing things that displease God, however, so often our will, our flesh, is stronger than our will to please God. We see something that we just really want to do and we do it, regardless of the physical or spiritual consequences. Does this make us bad people? Well, this makes us sinful people, which is unavoidable. God knew we were sinful creatures and that’s why He sent His one and only son to die on the cross for us. No matter what, there’s going to be times in our lives where our strong, fleshly will gets the better of us. The good news is that if we are born-again Christians and have obeyed the Gospel then Jesus has paid the price and cleansed us of our sins. We will still continue to stumble at times, but now, when we ask for repentance, Jesus’ blood will cover us and we will be able to be instantly reunited with God. What a wonderful gift! Charlie presumed the role of a servant in this story and Rylie was being the rebellious child. The way God used this situation to remind me about the nature of Jesus and the nature of humans is remarkable to me. If we will let God, He will reveal Himself to us in the most relatable ways, just like through my two, precious pups. I hope you can learn something from this little story. I hope it has shown you, once again, about the faithful love of Jesus and I hope it inspires you to try and be a servant to God and to others just like Jesus has always been a servant to us. God Bless You, Always.
--Dana Alexander