Sunday, April 17, 2011
Dogs of Destruction
I wrote this some time ago in Arkansas.
Dogs of Destruction
Bold as brass, and seemingly as unafraid as if he belonged here, the little gray mouse traipsed across my living room floor yesterday afternoon and headed for the kitchen. The dogs were asleep, of course, and didn't see him, and I just stared in shock at the unbelievable gall of the creature. By the time I got the humane mouse trap out, it was too late. He'd disappeared with nary an adreneline rush of his tiny little heart.
Got me thinking, of course. Thinking about our lives and how we live in the face of danger every day and don't even pause to consider it. Our own dogs of destruction seem asleep sometimes, and thank God for that. The teeth that could wipe us out in a single bite lay dormant, snoozing, unaware of our very presence.
Our dogs of destruction go by many names...Fear, Pain, Sorrow, Depression, Anxiety. We go about our lives coexisting with dogs that could kill us easily, if it were not for the protection of Almighty God.
I've done a fair amount of processing of my trip to California and beyond. I've thought about how different the world is, how full of pain, how full of lost souls. I've thought about how the world measures success, and how differently God measures it.
I think the world measures success in things, in possessions, in education, in what you've got to show for your life. But is that how God views success? I don't think God cares how much you've got, but what you DO with what you've got. I don't think God measures success by how much you have, but by how much of His love you share with others.
And all around us the dogs of destruction wait, ready to pounce with the unfulfilled expectations of the world, while God waits just as patiently for us to recognize the danger of living life as the world lives it. He wants us to run into His strong tower, His "humane trap," where we can go and be safe.
I set out my "alternative" trap last night, which consists of constructing a ladder of sorts that leads to a glass carafe, in which hopefully the little beast will fall. Once there, he can't get out and I can take him out and free him. Unfortunately, he ate the cookie crumbs on the first rung of the ladder (an olive can, actually), but went no farther. But today is another day. I've ordered a different sort of humane mouse trap online and will try that.
I know, many of you are saying "Come on, get a grip. It's a MOUSE, for God's sake. It's VERMIN. Just kill the darn thing and be done with it." But, somehow, I just can't. Maybe someday I'll get to the point where I can just put a trap out and off the little thing, but I'm not there yet. I looked at the little beast crossing the floor yesterday, and he reminded me of myself, crossing out in the dangerous open spaces of life while the dogs of destruction slept.
# posted by Phoenix MaryGrace Hocking : 4:00 PM
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