Today’s post is written by Pastor Jen.
If you were anywhere within half a mile of Trunk or Treat this weekend, or happen to be a Facebook friend, then you’ll know my latest big news: I brought home another foster puppy.
She is my youngest puppy yet, and I mean it when I say: she is giving me a run for it.
This little munchkin is three months old, and while our first few days went smoothly, Sunday morning and today have been some big tests.
The tests are two-fold: potty training and crate training. And I’ll spare you the details, but there have been moments when I feel like my house will never be clean and quiet again – and then of course it will, and that will be bittersweet.
We have had a couple of moments where I was pulling my hair out, and yelling, and (it was clear) freaking the puppy out. The puppy who, I firmly believe, is not trying to test my patience, but just really really good at it. And when I calmed down, I felt terrible about it. Terrible about losing my cool, and thinking this was about me, and just wanting her to understand and behave right now.
But the thing about dogs, which my trainer reminds me often, is that they live in the moment.
So just a few hours after giving up on getting her to go potty, roughly putting her in the crate, and leaving this puppy while I went to church, I returned to find her…fine.
Happy, wiggling, and utterly unconscious of what was weighing me down.
It’s a gift. A really, really big gift – especially as we get to know each other and work through the hardest parts of training. This little dog was in a shelter kennel just four days ago, and now she’s spending her days at my condo and in my neighborhood, playing with my dog, getting her meals at new and strange times, having multiple walks every day and being woken up in the dark of the night to go outside and pee. She’s so good at (almost) all of it. But when she’s not, and I can’t understand that…she lets it all go from one hour to the next.
An amazing example for those of us who are champion grudge-holders, who live frequently relitigating the past or worrying about the future.
In these days that are so anxious and upsetting, when hate crimes against both Israelis and Palestinians the world around are on the rise as a reaction to what’s happening in the Holy Land, when the war in Ukraine drags on and countless other conflicts don’t make the headlines but still boil up and over, it can be an enormous challenge to wake up and take the day as it comes. To be present where we are, and live in the moment, and try to accept the grace of each day. To let go and lay down what is past, and try to face the challenges of right now with as much grace and thoughtfulness and love as we can.
But that’s the call, I think. To remember that God’s mercies are indeed new every morning, and to trust in the One who made us to take us into that new day.
As I sit here, with another load of soiled towels in my laundry, with two exhausted dogs passed out next to me, with no idea what’s for dinner or when I’ll get another workout in…I’m going to try to do just that. To remember and to trust.
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