Lessons from Fifer the Puppy..

It's Thursday and I am laid off again today. This will be the last day I am laid off this month, so I'm actually excited about it. I have so much to do and here it is almost 8:00 and I'm still in my lounge clothes. I did get up at 7 though which is early for a day off!!! Fifer has been a great source of motivation to get me out of bed early in the mornings. I feel terrible about leaving him in his crate for any longer than that and I am really looking forward to the day he is housetrained so he doesn't have to sleep in there unless he wants to! But I know it's for his own good that he's in there. It is a teaching exercise. You know.. this may sound so stupid but since I've had him, I feel like I'm being taught how God must feel trying to teach us things. I celebrate when he does what I want him to... and I am so angry when he disobeys me! But I still love this little puppy.. do I love him anywhere NEAR the amount that God loves me? Absolutely not.. but I feel like the Lord is using my sweet puppy to teach me more about Himself. A couple of days after I got Fifer, I was home sick from work and I decided when I was taking Fifer out to pee and poop that I would walk down to the mailbox. Of course, Fifer did not want to stay where he was... he wanted to follow me down to the mailbox.. I wasn't watching him the way I should have been and he took off running behind me and fell into our ditch at the edge of the road. The ditch is where the water drains off of our property and it has some pretty big rocks in it and it is a pretty big ditch.. especially for such a small puppy to fall into. He let out a yelp that sounded like a small child screaming and he continued to "scream" for help.. he was stuck and scared and dirty and wet.. and for as much as I knew, very hurt.
of course, my heart stopped in my chest and I took off running to rescue him. I picked him up wondering if he had broken something or if he was really hurt and clutched him as close to my chest as possible just wanting him to feel safe. He trembled and shook for a good hour after that whole experience. Luckily, he wasn't hurt.. just scared, but I'm sure that was a really traumatic experience for my little puppy. I was pretty shaken up myself. By the time I got him in the house, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and called Corey immediately to tell him what a terrible pet owner I was for letting this happen.
But in this experience, what hit me the most is the fact that , that is exactly how God comes running to us when we scream to him for help. Believe me.. I've been screaming for help a lot lately and even though I can't see him or physically feel Him, I know that every time, he comes running and scoops me up and holds me to his chest. It may take me awhile to realize that I'm safe.. but I always do. I know that He holds me in the palm of His hand and His heart is grieved when His daughter is in pain. I'm so thankful that He holds me when I need Him.