Do I have a weasel stuck in my teeth?

I love Charlie.  There, I said it. I admit to it.  I love him and I don't even care if J knows it.  In fact, J is the one who introduced us this past fall.  I took one look at that curly dark hair around big brown eyes and I was hooked!  The deal was completely sealed when he looked right up and licked me on the nose!  Yes, in case you haven't figured it out, Charlie is my little shiz-tzu. I know I am not spelling that right so don't bother to send me notes about how it's wrong and what the correct way to spell it is.  You are dealing with a woman who occasionally has to check her drivers license to make sure she is spelling her name correctly.  After all, I've only had this last name for 20 years.  You can't expect perfection over night.  Aaaanyway, back to Charlie.  He was a birthday present from J last year.  He's a sweet little dog who is a lot of company here when I'm alone in the house, which seems to be more and more as the kids grow up.  Charlie doesn't do any tricks, he doesn't sit when you tell him to, he won't shake your hand, he won't go to bed when told, he won't roll over, sit up, or play dead.  The one thing Charlie will do is play fetch, over and over and over and over and..... you get the picture.  He has gone through countless stuffed toys, bones, balls, socks and numerous other items that have been fetched into ruin.  Right now we're working on a stuffed weasel, or ferret, the jury is still out on which one it actually is.
The thing is, Charlie will chase that toy for as long as you will throw it.  Sometimes I sit on the couch watching tv or reading and just throw it over and over again hoping he will tire of it but he never does.  Then one day I realized I am basically his home gym!  Who needs a doggy treadmill when you have someone who will give you something to chase for the equivalent of 12 miles?  I do, however, get some entertainment out of it.  You see, our downstairs are all hardwood floors and when you're a small furry dog they don't offer a whole lot of traction.  So, if you're not careful and you run pell mell after a small, stuffed weasel you can slide right into the wall. Every. Single. Time.  I find this hilarious!  Does that make me a bad person???  Do you think he'll end up needing doggy therapy?  Since little, lovable Charlie is the equivalent of a furry, male Dory from "Finding Nemo", I don't think he even realized he is being laughed at.  All he sees, all he hears, all he lives for is the weasel.  Must catch the weasel, must catch the weasel!  In his extreme focus he fails to see the obstacles right in front of his eyes.

How many times have we been guilty of that very same thing?  I know, for me, the count is too many.  I get a plan in my head, I set a goal, I make a decision and while not listening closely to the Holy Spirit charge full steam ahead and end up crashing right into the wall.  I must remember the safest place to be is along side, not in front of, Him.  He will never lead me into a wall.  I am convinced this tendency alone is a large reason why so many times the Lord will not lay out the whole plan in advance, but reveals it one step at a time as we walk close to Him.  If the path was highlighted in front of us there would be a great temptation to say "thanks, Lord! see ya on the other side" and go tearing off unmindful of the twists and turns in the path ahead.  I once saw a horse go running down a wooded path too quickly for his rider to control him.  When he approached an intersection he had no clue what to do and was going too quickly to receive the guidance the rider was so desperately trying to give him.  He ended up in the bushes.  He was on the right path, but he was going too fast to listen closely to his leader.  When we go racing ahead of the Lord, even if it's down the correct path, we will not be able to receive guidance on the turns and could very well end up on the bushes, or with out noses smashed against an unmoving wall.  It's easy to get excited about what the Lord is doing in our lives and in the lives of those around us, but we must not, in our zeal, go running off ahead of him. Because in our excitement we could very easily be having a dinner of paint and plaster or picking weeds and leaves our of our teeth.  The word has something to say about this subject too. In Isa 30:21 of the message Bible we read:

Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road."

If our weasel becomes our focus and not the Lord we won't be close enough to hear his voice and that is a recipe for disaster.  So I urge you today to stay close, listen up, don't run on ahead, you'll only get yourself into trouble.  You'll have less need of the AAA of the Holy Spirit to come pull you out of the ditch and put you back on the road again.  (good thing our spiritual insurance rates never go up! but that's another post entirely! lol) 

My goal today is to slow down a little, stay a little closer, and listen a little more intently.  I've spent way too much time in my life climbing out of ditches, bushes and brambles.  It's time to keep it between the white lines, keep hands and arms inside the car at all times, follow all speed limits and arrive alive!  Meanwhile, Charlie and I will be here.  I'll be on the couch throwing a stuffed weasel as I hold an ice pack to my nose.  He'll be the fur ball running after the furry little toy and.....  well, you can guess how his story ends.  Any one have the number for a good doggy plastic surgeon?  I think my puppy may need a nose job!

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor