Paul walks both dogs most of the time, but when I help walk them, I walk Virginia. For Virginia, walking outside is the most exciting time of the day! She loves to smell all the smells, see what people are out and about, maybe even run into a new furry friend! She gets herself all worked up and just cannot wait to get out there! So she pulls on her leash the entire walk outside. No matter how many times I correct her, pop her on the nose, scold her, keep her leash short, or tug the leash, she will not be distracted from the excitement that lies ahead. She needs to learn to follow me, walk with me and obey me, but she is just too excited about the world around her to focus on me as she should.
As I walked her tonight and got frustrated by her constant pulling, I thought about how I do this to God all the time. God wants me to focus on Him, to move through life at His pace, enjoy the walk alongside Him, but all I want to do is get to the next step. When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to be a teenager. When I was in high school, I couldn't wait for college. When I was in college, I couldn't wait to graduate and be on my own. When I was single, I couldn't wait to get married. Now we are getting Paul through seminary, and I can't wait for him to graduate & get a job as a minister. I know God has amazing experiences, relationships, and gifts to give me during this time, but I just want to move on to the next thing.
I believe this is because I am putting my hope in my circumstances instead of in the Lord. I am hoping that when I get to that next life stage that all the frustrations of my life will disappear and I'll be so much happier. I run through the "if only..." scenarios in my mind constantly. The truth is that no matter what the circumstance of my life are, I will only be truly fulfilled and satisfied in life when I am putting my hope in Christ. He is the only thing in my life that is unchanging and perfectly loving and able to meet all of my needs. Everything else, even the people I cherish the most, are temporal and limited. To put all of my hope, identity, joy, and value in things like possessions, relationships with people, job success, will inevitably lead me to disappointment and leave me unfulfilled.
I haven't figured out how to snap Virginia out of her obsessive leash pulling ways and trust me to lead her while we walk, but I am so thankful that God does, and is patiently helping me learn to trust Him to lead me as we walk through the days of my life together.
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