Be Careful When You Reach

There are not many things more annoying than a barking dog.  Okay, someone chomping ice may be more annoying.   Have you noticed that something that someone else does is annoying to you?  You may be doing the very same thing but as long as you are doing it, it is not annoying—except maybe to others.

Our dog, Lisa, rarely barks.  She is just not a barking dog.  An intruder to our space is more likely to be licked to death than bite or greeted with a bark.  When we first adopted her, she would bark at men with a hat.  But she quickly forgot to bark at them.  I think that is why she is loved so much.  She wags her tail, licks you and does not bark or bite.  But the other night she was barking in the back yard.

The other thing you need to know about Lisa is that she is fifteen years old.  She has recently lost her hearing or just chosen not to listen (I am not sure which).  Lisa has cataracts on her eyes so we are not sure how much she even sees.  So sometimes you just have to physically touch her to get her attention.

So Lisa is barking like the world is about to end.  I go out to see what all the commotion is about.  Lisa knows when I come out to stop barking.  She is not a dumb dog.  With only my cell phone acting as a flashlight, I am searching for Lisa.  I see movement in the bushes and reach down to pick Lisa up when I am surprised!   I am about to pick up a small possum, not Lisa.

I do not know who was more surprised—the possum or me.  I am sure that Lisa was hiding in the near by bushes laughing at me.   The possum darted THROUGH my legs and out of the yard.  Lisa now appeared and had this smug dog look—“I told you there was a stranger in my yard.  Why didn’t you believe me!”

In the darkness of our struggle in which there seems to be more noise than we want to admit, we find ourselves reaching.  I am reminded of the incident in the Bible where Jesus’ friend, Lazarus has died.  Mary and Martha are reaching for answers.   When Jesus does come, Martha says those painful words to Jesus, “If you had been here…”  The words are words of disappointment.   She is asking Jesus why he did not come earlier.  Jesus weeps.  He is overcome with grief.

Be careful what you reach for during difficult times.  You can reach for the wrong things.  Bitterness and despair can take root in your life.  Indifference can become a regular entree at the table of darkness.  Hatred begins in the darkness of the soul. 

Welcome Jesus in these moments.  Welcome his presence.  Welcome his word of life.  Welcome the light that Jesus can bring in the darkness.

Pray for me as I pray for you.