Missing the Past, Looking to the Future.....Monday

A heavy mist hung over the morning, as good an excuse as any to get a nice warm drink. Trying to stay dry, I ducked under store front canopies as I made the 1 minute walk to our nearest Starbucks. I saw a large black dog laying on the pavement as I approached. Leaving just a few minutes later I spied a business card on the ground next to the Rottweiler who had not moved an inch though customers had petted and spoken to her before they hurried on their way.

Hmm, I wondered if it was going to be an "Adopt me" card? What a novel idea, I thought. Then I felt a surge of emotion rising in my chest as I petted the peaceful pup and thoughts of my own beloved pet, gone just 4 months, flooded my memory.

A dog training service was on the business card. How brilliant! It gave all the necessary contact information but it was the dog that was the real advertisement: Look at my dog, no leash, no owner nearby, and yet still she has self control.

I thought about the young dog we had just adopted and how much work she is because she's so young and needs so much training. Taking a picture of the business card, I headed back to work thinking how nice it would be if our new pup was as well behaved as our old pup had been.

It wasn't until Sunday's sermon on contentment that I even realized what I had been doing lately. While missing our 12 year old Rottweiler, Sienna, I was forgetting to count my blessings of having a family who was willing to adopt 2 year old Fifi, the 3-legged Pit bull.

Fifi is full of energy, and enthusiasm, while training is full of tedious repetition, improvement is visible very quickly. She loves to snuggle and she makes us smile more often than frown.



Turns out that missing my old pet was just the tip of the iceberg. My life is changing and a new season has begun. Although I am confident that I am where God wants me, I am missing the way things were, and the friends and family who I used to see or talk to more often. One interesting part of the change is that I talk to God more, and depend on "venting my feelings" less. I do want to be content in all things, but having the all or nothing tendencies of human nature, I have to find the balance between keeping my eye on the prize that is Jesus Christ, and to be more like Him, while relaxing and accepting where I am now: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I have experienced times of need and times of abundance.

In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment,

whether I go satisfied or hungry,

have plenty or nothing.

Philippians 4:12 NET

This is the day the LORD has brought about. We will be happy and rejoice in it. 

Psalm 118:24 NET

Dear Lord, thank You for showing me that in focusing on the past, and planning for when the future will get here, that I am missing and even avoiding the present. Thank You for giving me opportunities to practice contentment each day. Please give me eyes to see and a heart to understand Your love. In Jesus name, amen.

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

"Every Good Thing" by The Afters