Today Teckla and I took Mira (our son’s doberman) up to Euphoria Ridge for a hike in the woods. Out of the car, Mira immediately took off up the trail, sniffing every tree and bush. By the time we had passed the gate and started up the trail, Mira had already sprinted far ahead and was now galloping back toward us to see what was taking so long.
This was her pattern. Mira would run far ahead, stop, see if we were still moving her direction and then run further. Sometimes we simply stopped for a moment. When Mira discovered we were out of sight, she raced back to us. Mira has been up this trail about a dozen times so she usually takes the right fork without waiting for our lead. To teach obedience, we occasionally stop, step out of sight, and yell, “Come, Mira.”
Of course all this running up and down the trail takes lots of energy. She travels every part of the trail two or three times. And our little obedience lessons add even more running. This is great when we are taking a short walk because Mira gets a lot of exercise quickly. But on long walks she gets exhausted too soon. Only after the exhaustion hits will Mira walk right beside us. We like her close so we can break her habit of eating disgusting things she finds in the wild: scats and dead birds.
I long to follow Jesus, but I am often more like Mira: sprinting up the trail, guessing which way to go, running the direction we went last time, discovering I can’t see the master, racing back in a panic, wagging my hands in worship, and then doing it all again. Sometimes I wonder where God has gone, but hear the call, “Come, Mark”. I may not eat disgusting things, unless fast food counts; or roll on dead things, unless television counts. However, I have often exhausted myself by running ahead of Jesus instead of walking by his side.
