Too smart for her own good.

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Margaret

Yesterday I blogged about Penny, our well-loved Golden Retriever who had to be put down after her violent attack. Up to that point, however, she’d been a good family dog.

She was smart, memorizing tricks after only one or two tries, and seamlessly running through the whole lot of them with one command as if she was doing a gymnastics floor routine.

We wanted Penny to enjoy the expanse of our half-acre yard, so we installed an underground electric fence linked to her collar. If she crossed it, she’d get a jolt. We could regulate the level of what she felt from mild to severe, as well as modify how close she could get to the current before receiving the shock.

It wasn’t as cruel as it sounds. As Penny neared the wire, her collar would slowly click, ticking faster as she approached. If she obeyed the collar’s signals, she never had to feel a shock. During her first training session, the fence man said she’d figured it out faster than any dog he’d ever worked with.

All went well for several weeks until one day we came home to find Penny romping around the neighborhood. Gradually her wanderlust increased, and whether we were gone or in the house, every few days she’d escape from the yard.

None of us could figure it out. We called the fence guy who told us to “up” the current as an incentive for her to stay inside the wire. Although we did, she didn’t. The point of the electric fence was to give her as much freedom as possible without letting her run in front of a car or get lost. But she viewed it as confinement from which she needed to break free.

Sometimes we do the same thing with the protective parameters God puts around us. When he says it’s wiser if we don’t do a certain thing, our will immediately says, “But I want to!” That kind of rebellion began with Eve, was followed by Adam, and has been humankind’s M.O. ever since, despite the trouble that usually results.

But God loves us too much to give up on his parameters-program. He “ups” the current until we finally accept that his limitations are for our benefit.

As for Penny, she continued to escape, though none of us had ever seen her shoot through the current. Then one day the mystery was solved. Our intelligent dog had figured out not only where the wire was buried but how high the current reached. She was leaving the yard pain-free by jumping over an invisible fence that was only 24 inches tall.

In the end we outsmarted our smart dog though, increasing the current to 6 feet, and as the trainer said, “We finally put some religion in her.”

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5)

Plumb Crazy

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Margaret

We’re taking showers again at our house. After losing repeatedly in a war against the elements (i.e. roots and soil in our basement pipes), we finally saw victory. Two drain-clearing experts arrived with their mega-machinery and extensive know-how, and now our floor drain flows freely.

Amazingly, the whole thing was probably my fault.

It turns out that when this house was built in 1938, the city sewer system didn’t exist. Most houses had septic systems. In the 1970’s, sewers arrived, but many homes (ours included) left basement drains emptying into the ground. That worked well until the year 2000… when we arrived.

While doing yard clean-up one day, I noticed a mini-gulley in the back yard beneath the ivy. Each time I raked, swept, or collected debris, I’d throw it into that long, narrow depression in an effort to level off the ground. Unbeknownst to me, that little ditch was the exit route for our basement shower.

By the time the plumbers figured it out last week, they’d dug through four feet of dirt, leaves, and twigs covering the hole where water had always flowed freely. I’d unwittingly made my own compost pile over the opening, facilitating rapid growth of surrounding roots. As the roots searched for water, they moved directly up the pipe, bringing their soil base along with them. Pretty clever on their part. Absolute idiocy on mine.

This saga is a first-rate example of what a tangled mess can result from making decisions based on wrong information. If I’d have taken one minute to look for a reason why that little ditch was there, I might have seen the edge of the pipe. The plumber actually found a rim of bricks in a semi-circle around the opening, which surely would have tipped me off to the reason for the gulley.

Rushing ahead without thinking (like me) isn’t a sensible way to bounce through life, since it leaves the results open to chance. Scripture speaks to that kind of slapdash approach in a disapproving way: “The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.” (Proverbs 14:16)

Thankfully, this time it was only a plumbing problem. There is one category of life, though, where reckless confidence can lead to permanent catastrophe: our relationship to God. Where do we stand with him? Are we confident we’ll be with him after we die? Or are we recklessly leaving it to chance? These are questions we all need to answer for ourselves.

My plumbing problem was a mystery for a long time, but our whereabouts after we die need never be a mystery. If we put our trust and confidence in God according to his Word, we’ll end up in his presence, exactly as he promised.

And I’m sure there’ll be no plumbing problems there.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise… Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15,17)

True Love

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Margaret

Today is Valentine’s Day, and despite the fact that Birgitta and I live in an all-female household, l-o-v-e is still the predominant sentiment on this day. But then, that’s true of all the days since little Emerald arrived.

Not that Birgitta and I don’t share a loving relationship. We do. But ever since last October when Emerald was born, smiles and laughter have been extra-bountiful. The baby’s gurgles often morph into our giggles, and her animated face finds us running for cameras.

When Birgitta was pregnant, I wasn’t sure if she would “take” to motherhood. Although some of her siblings have been baby-people from the get-go, she wasn’t one of them. But after Emerald’s birth, God flipped a switch of some sort within her, causing new feelings of love to sprout and quickly take root in her heart. From my vantage point, it’s been delightful to watch.

Scripture flat-out tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and I believe he’s the initiator of all mother-love, including Birgitta’s burst of love for Emerald. Not that having a baby hasn’t made her life much more work and a lot less play.

Going out socially is rare, and when Birgitta goes, Emerald goes, too. In every way (except attending her college classes) she is partnered with her daughter. But even with such round-the-clock baby demands, after being gone at school she’ll walk in the door and make a beeline for Emerald. “I missed you!”

If God hadn’t infused Birgitta with this overpowering love for her baby, it would have been difficult for her to summon it up on her own. The fact that he planted it there (and in virtually every mother) is an endowment of incalculable value. It goes against human logic to passionately love someone who has taken away all your privacy, your peace, your sleep, your social life, your free time and every other freedom you used to have. Yet that’s what I see happening in front of me daily.

God is, indeed, the initiator and ultimate celebrator of love, and thus of Valentine’s Day. After all, he loved us before we loved him, but that’s not the half of it. He loved us even before we existed, a concept we can’t entirely understand but are very happy to accept, and no matter what we do or don’t do, his love doesn’t fluctuate.