My pastors have two dogs, Penny and Parker. They don’t really believe in personal space bubbles, but they’ve grown on me. My dog died a few years ago, so they fill this weird void in my life that cannot be filled by a cat who is named Princess and acts like one.
When nobody is at home, Parker gets to go in a crate so he doesn’t get into trouble. Penny, being a little bit older {and let’s face it.. being a lady} is free to roam the house and lay on things. She always lays on stuff.
After I cleaned up the kitchen this morning, I left to pick Micah up from preschool and was gone for about 15 minutes. When we got back, the garbage was strewn out all over the kitchen floor.
As soon as she saw me go into the kitchen, Penny ran straight for the back door and wouldn’t look at me when I called her name. She refused to come near me, regardless of how I said her name or looked at her. Because she knew. I started cleaning up the garbage and Penny eventually came and watched with sad eyes. Because she knew.
After lunch, Micah and I had to run to the store. Parker was escorted to his crate and Penny still stayed out. The garbage was exactly how it was before I had left this morning. I knew I might end up having to pick up the garbage again, but I’m all about teachable moments. Even with dogs, okay? I’d believe in teachable moments with elephants and probably flowers if they ever did something wrong.
When we got back, I slowly rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw….
the garbage left untouched.
It’s so much easier to show grace to a dog than to a person. Even if Penny decided to have another garbage party, I would have just cleaned up after her, glared at her for a few minutes, and then gone back to sticking my feet under her to keep my toes warm. Her garbage parties wouldn’t get in the way of me loving her.
With people, it’s not that easy. I’m a really irritable person, and at any given moment in my life I’m annoyed with 75% of the people I know. Hypothetically, if they even looked at the garbage I’d be over them. And then if they decided to throw a garbage party, I would refuse to clean up their mess OR {even worse?} I’d “gladly” clean up after them while texting everyone I know about how much I was inconvenienced.
And let’s be real: I’d do this regardless of if they knew they messed up or not.
This is why my prayer is always to be made NEW. Not Stephanie 2.0 or Stephanie Updated, because those things usually involve a changed response and the problem is my heart, not my hands.
But then again… not many people let me tuck their toes under them so my toes can stay warm. Grace is always easier when your toes are warm.
