Fighting God

We give Gimli and Virginia hair cuts at home to save money. We have perfected our method and gotten our time down to less than 2 hours for both dogs including a bath. They look pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! Virginia, being the compliant and sweet dog she is, is easy to trim. Though she hates getting a hair cut, she lets us move her head and body around as we need to, and waits patiently for us to finish the job. Gimli, on the other hand, is a giant pain in the rear to cut. He fights us the entire time. When we are shaving his tail, he sit down. When we are cutting his ears, he recoils his head, trying to get as far from the clippers as possible. I have to force him to get in the positions we need him to be in. Once we're done, we can tell he knows he looks good and likes being cooler and being able to see. He forgets about that in between cuts, so every cut is like pulling teeth.

As I was fighting with Gimli to get him to let us cut his hair, I thought about all the times I have prayed and asked God to get rid of sin in my life and make me more like Him, and when He starts working in my life, I fight against Him tooth and nail. I know I need to change, but the process of being changed is unpleasant, uncomfortable, and often painful. I want the result, but I don't want to experience what it takes to get there. I can only imagine how frustrated I make God by fighting His leading at every turn, when He has a wonderful place to take me that He knows is the best for me. I want to be trusting of God's leading, like Virginia is of us when we are trimming her: even when I hate it, that I would trust that God knows what He is doing, won't cause me harm, and that what He's working on is worth my temporary discomfort.

In the end, Gimli and Virginia both got hair cuts. His fighting against us didn't make his cut easier or shorter, or get him out of it. In fact, had he just quit fighting us, it would have been faster and less uncomfortable for him. We are stronger than him, and love him enough to not let his hair grow wild until he's full of knots and can't see through his eyebrows. In the same way, God is going to accomplish His purposes with or without our compliance. Fighting against Him is useless and a waste of energy. Fighting against the almighty God of the universe is exhausting! I am praying that I will quit fighting God when His plans are different than what I want, and learn to let Him have the control of my life He deserves and desires as my loving Father.

Comfort

 

Gimli and Virginia love all things soft, warm, and comfortable. They hate sitting or standing on hard floors, which is a bit of a problem since almost all our floors are wood and tile. They always find a soft spot on a rug, or towel to sit on rather than brave the cold tile on their butts. This morning, when I exited the shower, I found Gimli on 1 bath rug, and Virginia on the other, avoiding as best they could the tile throughout the room. They love to snuggle up to us in bed, get under the covers, and lay their heads on our pillows just like little people. Even while laying on our soft bed, Gimli makes a little pillow for himself out of Paul's pants. They love to be comfortable, and will go to extreme lengths to avoid being uncomfortable. If they are uncomfortable, they pout! Oh, are they pitiful pouters! They know how to tug on your heartstrings!

I love to be comfortable too, and often go to great lengths to avoid discomfort. For me, comfort is a real idol. It robs me of my time, temping me to do things that are comfortable but not valuable. It distracts me from obeying God, which almost always requires a leap of faith outside of my comfort zone. It steals the joy of what I could have experienced had I taken that step of faith and followed God's leading because I feared taking a risk. It enslaves me to mediocrity, never fully realizing the potential of myself and opportunities that God gives me. It cheats me out of the peace I could have in giving God control of my life by convincing me that He is not trustworthy or able to meet my needs, so I have to meet them myself . Though I know all of this in my head, my sin nature continually tempts me to go return to my comfort idol. It's easier that way honestly. But oh, what I give up to pursue ease and comfort!

I am convinced at the end of my life, I will want to have live a life of purpose rather than a life of ease. My prayer is that God would give me the strength and determination to choose to invest my days, resources, talents, and treasure in things that might not be the easy and comfortable, but bring glory to God & impact eternity rather than just bring me comfort.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.