A Lesson from My Alpha Dog

Many of you know my sassy, take charge, Queen of the World, alpha dog, Daisy.  She puts the “bull” in French bulldog.  I couldn’t love her more, even though this attitude has presented its challenges through the years.

So knowing this about her, you may be surprised to learn that in a certain circumstance, she completely morphs into a panting, shaking, terrified little child.  What elicits such a response? 

Getting in the car.  Yep.  I have no idea what turned her into this because, as a puppy, she was so comfortable riding with me that she often napped on the way to our destination.

I have no answer for this.  And there is nothing I’ve been able to do to alleviate any of her fear.  It seems completely irrational and all I can do is try to assure her that it’s all okay.

I was chatting about this recently with a friend who has dogs in her family who are TERRIFIED of storms – to the point of vandalizing portions of her home.  So we both bemoaned that fact that we feel helpless to assuage our pups’ fears.  (For those of you who aren’t pet people, feel free to insert a child or grandchild in your picture!)

It didn’t take long for my friend and me to look a little deeper at the scenario where we as the pet owners know with full certainty that our fur babies are not at risk for anything that could cause such terror.  And yet, nothing we do can fix it for our babies. We love them through it and are grateful when the “terror instigator” has passed. We wish they could understand what we know.

That led us into a conversation about how WE are so often the panting, shaking, terrified, vandalizing dogs when something in our lives causes us to panic.  We ALL have those scenarios.  We stress over finances, relationships, medical diagnoses, family challenges, heartaches, jobs and everything under the unknown sun.  That lack of control often sends us into a “Daisy in the car” mindset. 

While we are not pets and God certainly isn’t our “owner,” I thought about how we must look to God as we fret and stew and agonize over so many things in our own lives.  And yet, God KNOWS that we are ultimately safe under his care.  He’s got us through this.  He can see the end from the beginning.

Does he look at us and wish that we would trust him the way my friend and I want our terrified pups to trust us?  Of course that’s what God would want from us.  Undying trust in a good God.  But it’s not what he gets from us much of the time.

What’s God’s response to us?  Does he berate us for stressing over real issues in our lives?  No, of course not. He responds as a loving father.  He loves us through it.

Here’s where we differ from our pets:  if we’ve been walking with God for any period of time, we DO know that he’s got us.  We know that he will ultimately bring us through and out of our current trial or stressor. 

We have the choice to let that knowledge calm our fears and center our thoughts on the promises and character of Almighty God, who loves us more than we can ever imagine. Our pets don’t.

All those problems I listed earlier are real and often overwhelming.  So this isn’t me trying to minimize those hurts or challenges in your lives.  I’m preaching to the choir here when I encourage us all to reflect upon the CERTAINTY that God has us through our car ride or our storm, and to ask God to help us trust him through that storm.  We won’t always get it right.  I know I don’t.

But this I know:  my certainty about how Daisy truly has nothing to fear in my car, pales in comparison to the unfailing sovereignty of a good God over anything that causes fear in my own life.

So the next time a “fear bomb” lands in your life, think about God telling you, “Regardless of the outcome, I’ve got you through this and ultimately you will be okay.”  I’ll remind myself not to be Daisy in the car.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3