First a few comments about the picture.  No, my 5-month-old puppy is NOT 10 times bigger than her sister.  This is her alpha personality coming out as she sits on poor little Winnie.  I did rectify the situation as soon as I got the picture taken!

We’ve had  a few weeks of fairly deep topics as we’ve walked through the Biblical Transformation Series. I’m giving all of us a little break this week by taking a more light-hearted look at an unlikely source of biblical inspiration.  I’m not even going to put it in the transformational category, so we’ll wrap that up in the next week or so.

Today, I want you to smile a bit as I share some of the lessons I’m learning while attempting to train Maisy, often referred to as Miss Sassy Pants!  Yes, you read that correctly.  The lessons I’M learning – not necessarily Maisy’s lessons!

Let’s start with obedience.  If she could speak, she’d say, “I’m not a big fan.”  For sure, she would ALWAYS prefer to do what she wants to do.  But because she is food motivated, I am making some progress in this area.  But we both pretty much hate this necessary process.

Despite my frustrations during this season of her young life, honestly, I’m no better than she is when it comes to my own obedience to God.  It’s not my natural tendency.  It will never be my first go-to response.  I want to do my own thing.

God isn’t offering food treats in exchange for my obedience, so how does this happen in human lives?  Simply put, God gives me the desire and the ability to be obedient to him.  The reward?  A closer walk with him and a deepening of faith.  It’s so much better than treats!

The rewards of practicing obedience to God are endless.  Often hard fought (against), but so worth it!

Now, let’s look at some of the specific commands I’ve been working on with Miss Maisy.

• “Eyes” – This might seem like a very strange command, but one of the first things we teach our pets is to look us in the eyes.  It teaches them to look to us for the next command, and eventually to look to us for everything.  Are we doing the same with God?  Do I look to him for EVERY step I take in my life?  It’s what he wants for us and what will serve us well over our lifetimes.
• “Come” – The only way this works consistently with Maisy is if I accompany the command with a vigorous shaking of her large milkbone treat container.  Then she hightails it into the house. It’s only because the thought of that treat is more important than whatever she’s been sniffing outside. I reward her every time she comes running to me.  How about me? Do I go running to God?  Does he need to shake some divine treats to get my attention?  He shouldn’t have to.  He is completely sufficient in who he is. No treats necessary.
• “Wait” – This is actually one command that Maisy has nailed. Not sure why this one has come so quickly and easily to her, but I’m thrilled!  How about her owner?  Yeah, not so much!  Waiting does NOT come naturally to me.  I want to be onto the next thing, even if it’s just my own desires directing me. When God tells us to wait, he has perfectly good reason for it.  I need to obey him, even when, and especially if, I have no idea why he’s asking this of me.  I’m trying to learn from Maisy.
• “Heel” – There’s nothing more beautiful to a puppy owner than to see them trotting along right by our side.  At least that’s what I’ve heard.  Can’t say I’ve experienced much of that for more than about 10 seconds.  But I can imagine how wonderful it must be…  Am I walking alongside God on my daily journey with him?  Or have I gone off chasing squirrels?  The closer to God I walk, the more of his goodness I’ll see, EVEN IF it comes in the form of some massive potholes.
• “Stop Chewing on Your Sister!” – Oh wait.  That’s not a command.  It’s just something I say all the time.  I guess there’s no spiritual lesson here.  My bad!

To wrap up this “deeply provocative” post,  I want to take a look at how I’m handling this season of puppy training.  In a word, it’s exhausting!  And yet, I couldn’t love this little girl more.  Inherent in the training of a puppy is a heavy dose of FRUSTRATION!  Not unlike the process of training toddlers. But persistence and consistency will pay off in the long run.

What about God? How does he view OUR season of training, i.e. our entire lives!?  Is he exhausted by us?  Is he so frustrated he wants to throw in the divine towel occasionally?  Does he toss us in our “kennels” when we’re naughty?

This I know about God.  He is perfectly patient with us.  We can’t wear him out. He doesn’t stand there with his arms crossed, angrily tapping his foot because we’ve messed up again.  He wants us to ask him for forgiveness when we’ve fallen short, and to rely on him to give us the desire and strength to be obedient.  And ultimately, he wants us to be motivated by our love for him.

He won’t punish us for the sake of punishment.  Might we endure some consequences of our disobedience? Quite likely.  But only as a Father disciplines the children he loves.

Whether you’re training children or pets, or yourselves, my pray is that God would be your supplier of everything you need.

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.

2 John 1:6