This One's A Real Dog...

Can you even believe I'm going to post about dogs?  How about dogs and God?  I know.  Pretty cray-cray, if you ask me. 

I love my dogs.  There's a reason why my husband has nicknamed me "The Sanctuary", and it's not because I exude thoughtful repose.  I happen to love most animals, and typically, the sadder the story, the more I love them.  Well, I don't love cats (allergic) and snakes (icky).  God knows this about me.  He even knows that I wish I didn't love my dogs so much on most days because, they are messy and farty and expensive, and take a lot of effort probably much better placed elsewhere.  But I can't help myself.

Today, I took a walk, and was reminded about the different walking experience between sight dogs and scent dogs. The sight dog is all business, eyes forward and scanning, laser focused on the goal at hand.  On the other paw (sorry), the scent hound is more of a meanderer, sniffing each area and processing that before ready to proceed.  My Retriever, Annie, is primarily sight focused, though obviously she uses her nose, too.  My Dachshund, Lowla, is primarily scent/nose focused.

Quite honestly, I prefer walking Annie.  Now that she's an adult and has pretty decent walking manners, she is lovely to walk.  We jet right through the neighborhood, enjoying the view, but not tarrying along. We finish our walk in about 15 minutes, and check it off the list for our day. DONE!  As you might imagine, walking Lowla is a bit different.  She's equally enthusiastic about her walk, but prefers to stop at every.single.yard. and s.n.i.f.f. as long as possible.  She hears, "Lowla, heel!" throughout our walk.  While it's a joy to see her little nose twitch and watch her sweet personality as we go, she's more work.  We stop more often.  I correct her more often.  And, if I'm honest, I find myself sometimes wishing that she would just "walk like Annie does". 

An aside:  This is good news for Annie, because she is a rotten dog in most other ways, and should not be emulated by others.  We love her regardless, of course. 

I believe God brought two things to mind when I went on this walk:  An appreciation for His wiring and will in us, and the urge to give grace and mercy to those who aren't wired the way (I) we are (am).

I think the scent/sight illustration is a helpful one when we look at men and women--generalities, folks.  I realize the analogy goes only so far, but honestly?  My husband is more of a sight dog (as are many men), and I'm more of a scent hound (as are many women).  Guys like to do their thing, focus on one thing at a time, and cross it off their list.  It's important for them to feel useful and competent.  While I realize many of us girls would also like to be considered competent, we tend, either by choice or by circumstance, to meander through our days.  We meander, due to the way we like to look around and ponder when shopping, due to our help-meet nature, and due to our face-to-face nature.  We stop and listen because we are wired to do so.  Additionally, most women would describe themselves as multitaskers.

Given the aformentioned illustration, it's easy to understand why I might be just the teeniest bit frustrating to my husband when he's trying to get something done. Conversely, when he's focused to the max, I sometimes want to hit him wish he would slow down and smell the roses. 

Neither wiring, scent- nor sight-focused, is better than the other.  In fact, we need them both to have not only great marriages (and great dogs), but to have the balance which supports healthy relationships with everyone. Our God is way to big to make cookie cutter people.  It's easy to judge others for how we're made, and--if I'm honest, lose patience all too easily with them.  In this broken world, we (okay, I) forget that God should be our (my) first focus, and that if we (I) love Him, we'll (I'll) love each other (you) better.  More mercifully.  More appreciative of what we've (I've) each been given and how we (I) can, in turn, give to others. 

Wag more. Bark less. Peace out.