Lesson from a dog

She sits there staring at you with such a deep longing in her eyes as they follow your every move. Your hands reach to the table then move up to your face several times. Her eyes roll back and forth in sync with every one of those moves. You try to ignore her but the patience and persistence and hope in her eyes melt your ‘hardened’ heart - you finally cave. And just before you take the last bite you throw her a dot of whatever it is you’re eating. 

Now her eyes are brighter and fuller, her tail wagging from end to end. She’s finally tasted what she so long-sufferingly waited for but behold unbeknownst to her… that was the last of it. Nonetheless, she sits staring at you again almost certain that from where that dot came from, there’s got to be lots more. And therefore, long after you’re done, she is still right there waiting with so much expectation.

Her name is Kia. She’s a four legged cutie.

Sometimes Kia waits and waits and literally gives up, and then she turns away slumps onto the floor and sulks. There are days when literally everyone around her is eating, she’ll turn to X then to Y and to Z then back to X hoping to tap into the feast. Sometimes she walks off just as the bite is being thrown to her but most times she really waits it out.

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”

Waiting can be tough. There are times you feel like Kia. You watch the world eating and think to yourself, “How come nothing is coming my way?”

You sit back and long and hope and wait but – nothing …yet.

Then the weariness creeps in, you start to walk away, you begin to think maybe not today, maybe not this year, maybe not this time round. You imagine it was even a waste of time expecting anything to happen. You wish you hadn’t tried or started something in the first place. You get angry at yourself, at others and doubt God.

Your heart starts to fall sick!

The verse goes on to say, “But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”

Just like Kia comes to life when she finally gets to receive even a crumb like portion of anything, we too are revitalized when even the littlest detail of something we are hoping and longing for comes through. It’s like being jumpstarted. You are like, “whoh! Ok, may we can keep going.”

We serve a living God. He is the God of hope and in Him we abound in hope. No matter the situation we are going through we know that we can push through it. His word says tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character hope and HOPE does not disappoint because His love has been poured into our hearts.

Our God loves us so and is not like us. He says if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will He, our Father give good things to those who ask Him? Keep seeking, asking and knocking.

Friend, it is a new week and a new month. There is a longing in your heart, a desire, a dream, a goal. Is your hope deferred? Is your heart growing sick? I am here to say strengthen those feeble knees… continue to hope in and wait upon the Lord. Your strength will be renewed. Keep in your position of expectancy. God does not throw out dots and crumbs. He literally serves us humongous chunks every day and there is so much more where that came from.