Tom and I recently adopted a dog named Mitzi from the Humane Society.
We’ve known we wanted a German Shepherd dog friend for Axel for a while, but a puppy was not on our radar.
Until a friend who volunteers at the shelter sent me a picture of the cutest litter of puppies, German Shepherd/Husky mix.
When we visited the shelter, there were two that really caught our attention. One with the most beautiful blue eyes, timid, and rather non-assuming. Then another, one brown eye/one blue, with lots of energy, ran over to greet us and immediately gave us kisses.
Who to choose????
Twenty-five-plus years ago when I adopted a puppy, I went for the timid one. The one that hid under a car while his brothers/sisters all vied for attention. That was my gut this time, however, Axel is afraid of his shadow. The staff at the shelter shared it might be better to have a dog that was more assertive, she would certainly help bring Axel out of his shell.
So we went for the feisty one. Little did we know . . .
Now, SEVERAL dollars later and three weeks of Puppy Kindergarten, Mitzi is back among us.
We weren’t 12 hours into the homecoming before she ventured into “off-limits” areas.
Because of something funky with my shoulder, I had taken a muscle relaxant. I NEVER take things like that, so needless to say I became a rough version of Sleeping Beauty. It knocked me out.
I got up Monday still in a daze. I let the dogs out and started doing some work things. Too much time passed, and I realized I had NO clue where they were. They never venture far away, so I wasn’t too afraid. However, after a few calls and no dogs, a pit in my stomach formed.
Finally, I heard, “Andrea, she’s over here.”
Crap.
She had crawled through the neighbor’s fence. He was out with his new puppy, who has NOT had his shots, so they were not supposed to be fraternizing. There was no time to worry about the fact that I had NOT combed my hair, I was still in ratty shorts/t-shirt (my version of pajamas), and had on no shoes. I needed to get the dog.
“Mitzi, come!” did nothing.
“Mitzi, stop!” was equally as effective.
The only way I could get her back was to manhandle her out of the fence and back into the house.
Days passed and it seemed all was better.
Until leaving for the Ash Wednesday service I let the dogs out for one final bathroom break.
The neighbor’s puppy was outside. And off she went!
Right through the fence rails . . . again.
And she could give a crap less that I was calling for her.
The ONLY way I could get her attention was to yell “Leave it!”
Apparently, that is the universal command that makes her stop doing everything. I thought it was just for dropping whatever she has in her mouth. It’s SOOOO much more!
I’m pretty sure that command could be universal for us as well.
“Leave it!”
Leave the things that tempt us to venture from our path of living at one with Love.
Leave the things that bind us, causing us to think we are not worthy of the Love of God.
Leave the stress, worry, and anxiety of not knowing the future and trust that, in the end, all will be well. The worst things are never the last things.
Leave it.
Sunday, we are going to dive deep into “Leaving it!” We’ll use some examples from Wednesday and from Jesus as we begin our Lenten journey. I hope you will worship with us online, in person, or on demand.
Until then, ponder some things to Leave It!
