Dog Days

 

And some days I blog about a dog. That's that. 

"Are you having a bad day? Or did you have a bad moment?"

I recently read this quote from a book, and it obviously went further than this, but this is the line that got me thinking. How many good days have I let turn into bad days, not because the day was bad, but because of a bad moment? Then how many of those bad moments have turned into bad weeks or months? Today was a great day. A really great day. After I was able to focus on the good. It was the silly little things that were bad and shouldn't have actually made a difference. I woke up and drove down a hill into the sun rising over the most beautiful mountains you might imagine, I started my Friday off with worship, good food amongst incredible ladies, a long walk on the sunny beach with a dog at my side, more staring at mountains and this little town, I studied for and took a test completing this week's work and finished an assignment for next week....my evening goes on and here I am with you. Does that not sound like a good day?? And it was, but there was just a couple small things that happened during all of that that could have ruined the goodness in all of that, and almost did. However, thanks to my canine companion who showed me a few lessons today, I was able to move on and have a pretty great day.

Before I even let the dog off the leash, she was already entertaining herself with a large rock she was pushing around and trying to chase after. I let her off the leash and literally had to encourage her to leave the rock and follow after me. Then she was running circles around me. Just enticing me to play chase, or run, or play with her, to do something. I saw joy in that silly dog today. I don't know any other way to describe it. I always say I want to live life to the fullest. Well, she was doing it. You don't need a reason to frolic, the invite is always there. But this day I was invited by some silly dog to let loose and frolic, to skip, to spin in circles, let the wind blow in my face, to run free. To not let the smaller, less important moments be the moments that made the day. I ran, I spun, I breathed deep, looked hard at beauty, was refreshed, was blessed, was part of a great day. And the invite is always there to have a good day. One where you focus on the good, focus on Jesus, focus on what He has given, not on what wasn't. To cease our striving, to know that He is God and He is good. To count our blessing. To mostly take our eyes off of our self. To enjoy the moment, and maybe realize that the self-pity party going on isn't actually that important. I've been told that the mind can't think two things at once, perhaps we can't feel two things at once either, perhaps we get to choose moment by moment what we are going to focus on. Perhaps we get dog days that are just waiting for us to be young at heart and smile deep. To have a good day, filled with lots of good moments.

And like that same dog, as we pull into the drive and she runs on home ahead of me, I want to run hard after pursuing Home, A Kingdom without fail or end, a life of letting that Kingdom come here in this day, inviting that into my day, looking back only to see who's accepted the invitation to live life to the full along with me.

Adventure always awaits!