Skip to main content

Lessons from My Dog

It's a crisp, cold, clear day and my dog finds possibly the best spot in the house: she is sitting as though beside Queen Elizabeth, poised and quite pleased with herself on the wool oriental in my foyer.  Contentedly, she is basking on the rug where the morning sun is falling onto her through the leaded glass door, creating a kaleidoscope of warm, fuzzy sunlight which sprinkles dapples of gold onto her.   I watch her momentarily before she spots me.  She gives me the look, the same look she throws me when we cruise together in the car with the top down.  The look that says she's very pleased. The one that says she is happy with her life and diggin' this moment.

She may be "just" a dog, but she has taught me one of life's most important lessons: happiness is a series of moments basking in contentedness.  Just throw your head back and howl at them. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

When Satan Pursues Us – Keeping It In Between the Lines

Anyone who has ever been behind the wheel of a car knows that in a split second we can lose control of the vehicle.  One minute you’re confidently cruising along, but hit a patch of ice or oil, and suddenly you’re in a tailspin. Round and round we go . . . Highway driving is pretty predictable.  The route is fairly well-marked, fairly well-lit, especially in the congested areas, and as long as you follow the signs you can pretty much stay on course and get where you're going with little difficulty. Driving on back roads and country lanes is a totally different experience, isn’t it?  Half the time the signs are knocked down or hidden by brush, and it’s easy to miss a sign and the next thing you know you are seriously lost. Back road driving also requires a bit more skill, especially out here in Texas where we have a lot of country "farm to market" roads.  Often narrow and twisting, these back roads are filled with chuckholes that seem to lay in wait and rise up ...

Why Me?

When bad things happen to us, our first reaction is "why me?" When good things happen to others, often, in our flesh, our initial reaction is "why not me?" Oh, we are happy for the other person, for their good fortune, but inside, in that secret place, we think to ourselves: "Why not me? After all, I'm a good person, aren't I?  I mean, Why not me ?" It's a wail, a plea to 'the universe' because of the 'unfairness of it all'. We might even tell ourselves, I'm a  much  better person that he (or she). Why not me? In our humanness, we want the good, but not the bad. It's only natural.  Who wants to just "get by" when the alternative is wealth?  We see wealthy people who win the lottery, and say, "You have to be kidding!" Someone who didn't need "it" won the big payout, and we ask . . . why not me ?  Why can't we hit the jackpot or be the surprised heir of some distant relative...

Leading the Way . . . A Search for the Role of Women in the Church

Since my return to Texas from Florida, I had been thinking that I don't fit in very well over at Stonewater - the church that I had been visiting for the past two or three months. For one, I am not a couple . . . I am a single . . . which in a church geared to families kind of leaves me at loose ends.  If you are a frequent reader then you know that I am quite content with my "singleness". Secondly, the "single" groups are broken into baby-boomers and non-boomers . . . and they have defined the baby-boomers as anyone 50+.  I have to be honest with you . . . I do not see myself as a baby-boomer, nor do I act or think like one.  I may be a Presbyterian Deacon, but I am certainly no old f*rt, and although I am 52  36 there is no way I am going to admit to being 52 !  I don't care HOW much of a savings I can get through AARP or at Kohls, I am NOT going to join or admit to being eligible to receive a discount! I would rather pay the full price and call it a d...