My dog is a Rottweiler; in his head. Without hesitation, the minute he sees or even hears someone outside he runs to the window or front door and sounds like he’s ready for the attack. If you didn’t know him, you’d be a little taken back by his rabid dog-like behavior. He doesn’t even seem to grow weary of the facade. Every. Single. Day. The mailman comes to our door, simply doing his job to deliver our mail, and is accosted by the sounds of a raging maniac of a dog. Our neighbor is visited daily by family members and I’ve often wondered just what they think of the seemingly vicious animal noises they hear as they pull into their mother’s driveway, just to the left of our front yard and in plain sight of my watch dog.
When a visitor arrives at our house the insane show of brute force-household protection begins.
Now open the door.
Meet Tre
vor, our Jack Russell Terrier. His pure excitement at having someone walk through that door completely consumes him. He has to sniff every inch of your leg from your knee to your toe. From this moment on, he’ll follow your every move throughout our house; sit next to you on the couch with his chin lightly perched on your knee. He has nothing more to say; just being near you is enough. If you happen to choose to sit in a chair instead of the couch, it’s very likely he’ll sit at your feet and whine like a baby until you invite him onto your lap. Yep, pure watchdog he ain’t!
His little bipolar show had me thinking quite a bit the other day. We had to have the repairman out to fix the dishwasher at our new little house. Trevor kept with his usual Rottweiler like behavior until the man was in the house. The whole time he was stationed at the dishwasher fixing the machine, my little terrier sat next to him. Staring. Speechless.
I was thinking how much I tend to be like Trevor when it comes to sharing my faith with others. When I’m home and surrounded by family I am fully confident. I am ready to attack the world; loudly and boldly barking out the news of how my personal relationship with Christ has made such a difference in my life.
Now open the door.
This time someone isn’t coming in my home. This time I’m going out. Out into the world. Seeing people and interacting with others. Having multiple opportunities to share Christ or show His love. So what do I do? More often than not I sit. Being friendly, taking in what others have to say and simply enjoying being with them. Mouth shut.
I know what the problem is. I think we’ve all experienced it at some level when we’ve had something important to share. Fear of rejection. After all, isn’t that Trevor’s problem too. We just want to be accepted and loved.
I think I’ve wasted a lot of time and opportunities worried about being accepted. I should be more concerned about looking for the God-created opportunities to share the news of His gift of salvation and eternal life with others. Ultimately, I should be focused on one day hearing my Savior say, “well done.”
So while I take time to work on the first impression Trevor gives and try to balance his energetic fervor of protecting his family with his need of acceptance; I think I’ll work on my own balance. That’s why I started this blog after all. Balance. I’ll try to be more mindful of the moments that come my way to show God’s love to others and share the news of His Son’s sacrifice. I’ll try to be a little less worried about how I may look, and a little more concerned about how Christ’s love is portrayed through me.
Joy's Turn 