Tomorrow will mark three weeks with Riley.
Like most labs, he is VERY friendly. When he sees a dog/person he wants to be friends with on a walk, he stands still and whimpers… seemingly frustrated that I won’t let him go introduce himself. He is also very needy. Ever since he arrived in our lives, he has been right up in our faces saying “Love on me right now!” with his sad puppy eyes.
And those super long paws that he rests gently on you? They make it very hard not to fall in love with this little guy.
The first 2 weeks were great. He was apparently already crate and house-trained. He learned to sit easily. He would come and lay down in the kitchen on his two front paws and watch me cook. I started to think I was his person. I would take him out of his crate in the morning and hang out with him in the moonlight.
It was so easy.
Then it was suddenly not. He started marking in our playroom and testing out chewing on furniture legs. He no longer just sits on my kitchen floor with his head in his paws and watches me cook. Instead, he charges at me sometimes wanting to play with me like a puppy with another puppy.
I thought we understood each other until suddenly we didn’t.
Do you ever have those moments? When you think you have communication with someone all figured out and then something shifts?
Do you ever have those moments in prayer?
I can think of many times in my prayer life when I have gotten comfortable. God and I seem completely in sync. And then out of the blue, the same old things aren’t working anymore. God starts to challenge me to grow and expand and find new ways forward.
It appears there is no one right way to communicate with a puppy. I have to try all the tricks and have patience as I work out which will do for this particular little guy.
I have to keep showing up.⠀
I have to keep trying.
And I’m certain that over time he and I will understand each other in new ways.
And so it is with prayer.⠀
There’s no one right way.⠀
I have to keep showing up.⠀
I have to keep trying.
And I have to have faith that God and I will come to understand each other in new ways over time.⠀
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