Lessons From A Dog

So this morning, I had a realization. I was eating breakfast (eggs and a baguette with some nutella on it- pretty much the same as always) and my dog, Fındık, wanted in. Now she does this every day for every meal. She could be upstairs asleep and she hears a fork downstairs and hustles to the table as fast as her chubby body can get her there. She's mastered the art of begging. She paws at my leg, lays her head on my lap and looks up at me with those big sad puppy eyes. She has a gift. But Fındık is on a diet so I don't give her any "people food". No matter how many times she follows me back and forth from the dining room to the kitchen or cries or licks my hand, I know better than she does and I don't give her anything. I also know that nutella has chocolate in it and that's not good for dogs...no matter how badly she wants it. Here's the other thing about Fındık: she's fickle. She likes you but she really only loves you when you have food. She sits next to whoever at the table is still eating. I love this dog. So much. I love playing with her, spending time with her, scratching her behind the ear just like she likes, you name it. Sometimes I fall asleep on my bed while still scratching her sleeping on the floor next to me. It's LOVE.


So, this morning, I was the last one eating my breakfast and of course, Fındık comes on over to tell me how much she loves me and wants my food and it HIT me! This is exactly like our relationship with God, so often! How many times in my life have I ignored God until I wanted something? Then it's all "Oh God, I LOVE You!!! You're the best God ever! I love love love You, always did, You knew that right? So I have a favor to ask. There's this big test I'm about to take and I REALLY need to ace it, can ya do that for me? I'll love You forever, promise! This time, I really mean it!" and if I do get it, I say "Yesssss! Thanks God" and then forget about Him a minute later to go enjoy whatever I just received. So just like when I DO give Fındık a piece of bread (no nutella, don't worry), and she worships the bread and forgets about me, I do the same to God. OR, if I don't give her bread and she get's all indignant on me because she thinks I'm punishing her by not giving her everything she wants at any moment.

So I have two main points to all of this:
1) Love God first. Love Him always, even when He's not giving you something at the time. Don't be fickle with your love because you're not fooling Him (and neither am I). Thank Him and MEAN IT when He does give you something because He didn't have to and He did it because He loves you.
2) If we don't get what we want, God has a good reason for it. He knows what's best for us way better than we do. As much as I love Fındık, God loves us waaaaay more and I love giving her treats but I also know when it's gonna make her sick or hurt her somehow. In the same way, God knows what's good and bad for us and protects us, even when it feels like He's holding stuff back from us.
3) Lastly, after you've thanked God for whatever He did (and yes, you may not realize it and sometimes I don't either but He made it happen for ya), don't forget about Him again and go back to "normal life". I love when Fındık loves me for me and not what I give her. God's the same. Love Him for who He is and ALSO because of all the stuff He gives us.