The Dog Who Walks (Only Sometimes)

Most mornings involve a walk with this dog. In fact, a primary reason I negotiated with Marcus a few years to get the dog in the first place was to get myself outside and walk, which I was unmotivated to do without a four-legged friend.

And so, in the mornings I am forced to play a game where I go looking for this dog who may be sleeping beside any one of three teenagers. Usually when I get to Door #3 I find him curled up and hopeful that I will forget our daily ritual. Like the student who avoids eye contact with the teacher posing a question, he hopes I will move on.

On this particular morning, he had chosen a couch for his sleeping quarter over a kid’s bedroom and went all chameleon, aiming to blend in with one pillow while hiding behind another.

Seriously. What dog passes on the famous invitation to go for a walk, a thing that is good for both of us? Who chooses not to do the very thing that is good for him, but instead the thing that is less good for him? I’ll tell you who: Paul. (and us)

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. (Romans 7:15 & 18b)

The dog tries to get himself out of a morning walk. The rest of us try to get ourselves out of other things that are good for us.

• Vegetables instead of cookies.
• The hard conversation with someone we love instead of the small talk question.
• Going next door to meet the next-door neighbor instead of keeping to ourselves.
• Trying to direct a spouse or child instead of hearing them out.
• Saving money instead of spending it – darn you, Prime Days!

Human beings, like this little slightly lazy dog, are not expected to be perfect. We are all creatures inclined toward sin, that is, we will do the very thing we do not want to do.

Now hold on. I am not scolding us for making bad choices, or telling you to revise your habits, although you very well may.

Instead, take a gentle look at your life and admit where you are doing the very thing you wish you would not do.

• It is your human nature to avoid what is good for you. What does that look like today? Who might encourage you to reconsider?

Eventually, I coax the dog into a walk. Before we are ten steps down the driveway, his tail wags and h4 remembers he is a dog who, in fact, loves walks. I just need to remind him every single ridiculous morning.

We follow a Savior who does not wait for us to make the right choice, or to do what is good for us. Sit on the couch and try to blend in every day and you will not undo God’s love for you, a love that is unconditional and frankly quite stubborn.

There are days when the dog does not drag his feet, so to say, but willingly agrees to walk. That’s nice and all, both of us doing what is good for us, walking our way into a new day.