Lessons from Sadie: What Matters Most

Mark Corbett · Jun 16, 2017

Sadie is our family dog. It is obvious what is most important to Sadie. There is something more important than chasing deer. Even more important than doggie treats (which are incredibly important!).

The most important thing to Sadie is being with us, her family, her pack. We see evidence of this in many ways. Wherever we are in the house, she wants to be in the house. When we are getting ready to go on a trip she desperately wants to get in the car. When any one of us has been out of the house without her, even if we’re only gone for fifteen or twenty minutes, she greets us at the door when we return with great enthusiasm and an energetically wagging tail. Even when I’m on a walk with her in the nearby farm fields early in the morning, she wants to be near me. Sure, she’ll chase a deer across a field (and I love to watch her run!), but it is very rare for her to go somewhere where she cannot see me for more than one or two minutes. Then she comes running back. In fact, it’s because I know she wants to stay near me that I can let her off the leash in the fields.

So, what’s most important to us? Just as being with her family is the most important thing for Sadie, being with our God should be the most important thing for us. I want to be like the Psalmist, who wrote:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
(Psalm 42:1-2)

and also wrote:

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
(Psalm 84:2)

And I often feel like Moses, who said:

"If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15)

I want to go where you go!

Getting Real

Unlike Sadie wanting to be with us, I have conflicting desires. The best part of me, and the deepest part of me, really does want to be close to God more than anything. But I have other desires. Wrong desires. And I get so easily distracted by the world. And my flesh (the sinful part of me) doesn’t really want to be with God at all. And the Devil is working overtime to keep me as far from God as possible.

So what do I do when I honestly don’t feel the desire to be close to God?

Here is what I have found. Sometimes I don’t feel like reading my Bible or getting down on my knees to pray. But, when I do it anyways, I am always glad afterwards. I honestly don’t think there has been a single time in my entire life that I took time to pray or took time to read the Bible and then afterwards felt that it was a waste of time. I’ve felt like I’ve wasted time doing lots of other things, but I’ve never felt that way about the Bible and prayer.

So the best way to grow in our desire to be with God is to do things where we experience His presence. I’m talking about prayer and reading the Bible and going to church. The more we are with God, the more we want to be with Him.

The Vertical Church Band captures the idea that being with God changes what we seek in their song, “Spirit of the Living God”.

Getting Practical

I want to close with a few practical ideas.

For prayer, try one or more of the following:

1. Start a habit of having an early morning prayer time. I actually use a stopwatch to make sure I pray at least a certain amount of time. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been praying a long time, then I look at my watch and see it’s only been six minutes. Then I slow down. And start to really feel the Holy Spirit directing my prayers and speaking to me.
2. Schedule a time with a friend for the specific purpose of praying together.
3. Start attending a prayer meeting at your church.

For Bible reading, try one of these ideas:

1. Start reading through the Bible. There are lots of reading plans online.
2. Choose one of the following books or passages and read it once a day every day for a month:
a. 1 John
b. Colossians
c. Philippians
d. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
As you read the same short book over and over God will show you more and more and His truth will work deeper and deeper into your soul.

The world, your own flesh, and the Devil will try to interfere. Be strong in Christ!

How about you? What do you do to experience the presence of Christ? What advice do you have for the times when we don't feel like seeking His presence? God Bless You!

This OP is adapted from an article on my blog from my blog.

Deacon · Jun 16, 2017

I had a Long-haired Standard Red Dachshund.

Long-haired dachshunds are the type of dog that tend to attach themselves to family, unlike the short-hairs that tend to attach themselves to one dominant family member.

They are a loving and quite protective dog (meaning they tend to bark a lot) and they can be rather aggressive for their small size. The Doberman Pinscher down the block crossed to the other side of the street when he walked past our house.

Cracker Jack was a man’s dog.

For a small dog, he was the biggest dachshund I’ve ever seen, weighing in at a skinny 30 pounds; he was a lap and a half dog with a bark that would scare a lion.

He was a fearless carnivore. You could place a warm bowl of stew in front of him and he’d lap up the meat and leave the peas and carrots.

He had one passion, the hunt.

Nothing was more important than chasing and killing small game; mice, rats, squirrels, groundhogs, muskrats, snakes, raccoons, and skunks. He loved chasing rabbits; their nests never lasted long in our yard. He would chase rabbits for a week or two until he learned their escape pattern and then one day he’d grab and kill them. The next day he’d excitedly run out again with the hope that the rabbit would be there again waiting for him to chase it again.

I had to keep a close eye on him during our strolls because he tended to wander off.

I’ve seen studies where dogs have been ranked in order of intelligence; dachshunds usually rank somewhere in the middle but sometimes with an asterisk. It’s noted that dachshunds are obedient when they are close to their owner but the further away they are, the less they obey.

During one particularly snowy day I got distracted and lost him. I tracked him to a culvert street drainage pipe that ended deep in our back yard. It seems that he chased an animal into it. I had to call into three different gutters along the street to guide him back to the outlet.

Early in his life we installed an invisible fence, a underground electrified line that gave the dog a jolt when he approached the border. We spent some time training him to stay within the lines we set.

But we discovered that the enticement of the chase overpowered any fear of pain. You could see him as he prepared to cross the line. He’d measure the point of shock and ease up to the line. He’d go forward and back a few times getting up the courage and then dash across to chase the squirrel.

CrackerJack’s wandering reminded me of my own.

When he disappeared from our walks I was reminded of the tune, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Rob

Mark Corbett · Jun 16, 2017

Deacon said: ↑

I had a Long-haired Standard Red Dachshund.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for sharing about your dog and how God spoke to you through him. God so often speaks to me though nature, reminding me of the great truths contained in His Word. Besides what I shared in the OP, the Lord has brought other lessons to my mind by watching our dog, Sadie. God Bless You!

Lessons from Sadie: What Matters Most

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