My husband has been wanting a dog for quite a while, ever since our basset died a few years ago. I've been pretty reluctant since towards the end our dog was a lot of work, more work than I really have been willing to take on. Well, I agreed to let him foster a dog, and within 1 hour of this pooch being here I was ready to adopt her. We now have a sweet pointer/pit mix named Dari. Having a dog reminds me of how amazing God is. I've always said children are God's greatest object lessons. I'm starting to think dogs may be a close second.
I've been reading a book called "Lord, Change My Attitude: Before its too Late" by James Macdonald. It seems that the lessons I've been reading in this book are paraded before me with this dog. Macdonald talks about replacing complaining with thankfulness. It is so easy to complain--its habit forming, in fact. Its amazing, too, the things we can complain about-ridiculous things that make us seem (and feel) so incensed, so ungrateful, so unhappy.
Our dog, Dari, had a pretty horrid life thus far. She was very hungry, very underweight, has a BB lodged in her back leg. Her skin is raw from scratching fleas, she has worms, and is missing her front teeth. Yet this dog is just so happy! Cesar Milan (aka the Dog Whisperer) says dogs live in the present. Maybe that's a good lesson for us. Often we hang on to every little annoyance. Maybe we need to really focus our attitude on the present--because in a second, that annoyance is history. And just as a negative attitude is contagious, so is a good one. I could come in from a horrid day at work, and out bounds Dari, so happy to see me, wagging her tail and wiggling with excitement. Its hard to hang on to the horrid things when just walking in the door is a moment to be enjoyed and celebrated. God is good, and if we are to always be thankful then we should strive to replace our complaints with an attitude of gratitude.
