Listening and Obeying

I have a fifteen-month-old female dog named Cinnamon —a beautiful Yorkie-poo with multicolored hair of black, brown, golden tan, and beige.

She is a faithful dog and a sociable sweetheart.

She loves to sit near my husband or me and is quick to follow when either of us moves to another room or goes to the kitchen to grab a snack.

She is naughty also, stealing the TV remote, socks, or anything low enough to grab. She is more than two retirees need to deal with, but we love her and keep hoping her behavior will change. We can’t imagine life now without her.

Cinnamon was recently spayed. We brought her back home after surgery with three days of pain meds and strict recuperation instructions: Do not walk her much the first ten to fourteen days, don’t let her be active in her play, never let her lick her wound, and help her on any stairs. A highly active dog is always into something, so we were leery of whether we could follow the instructions. The first two days, she lay around, not eating, drinking, or barking, so we figured it would be easy.

Before long, she was up and down the stairs as often as before, jumping off the couch and running to the window to bark at passersby, and also into other activities that taxed her abdomen. We tried predicting her moves to deter her, but it didn’t work. Her mind was set on what she liked to do and when.

She wasn’t listening or obeying or missing out on doing her favorite things —surgery or not. During her recuperation, my husband, Will, and I learned valuable lessons about life, healing, and rules to keep us safe.

We have a good life, but, at times, the Master Physician needs to perform surgery to contend with our sins. God gives us healing instructions, too, out of concern for our health, happiness, and quality of life. We soon realize that we miss our propensities to do the things we used to do, so throwing caution to the wind and disregarding the possible potential setbacks, we go back to our old ways —not aware or caring that temporary or permanent damage could occur.

Even with God nearby to guard us, we still do whatever we want, disobeying the warning signs and ignoring instructions given for our benefit.

Lord, help us to know and accept Your divine instructions, follow the leading of Your hand, and be ever thankful for Your love.

Iris L. Kitching