Our foolish dog
Our previous dog died in 2016 due to old age/kidney failure. For three years, we enjoyed the dog-free life of no hair to clean up, no extra food to buy, and going on a trip without having to plan (and pay) for someone to feed the dog.
That all changed in 2019, when we met a rescue puppy named Blue. He suckered us in with his big blue eyes, super soft fur, playful hops, and cuddles. He immediately bonded with each of us, and we found that he shows his love by licking. And licking. And licking some more. But at least the drools only happen when he smells peanut butter in the air.
He is a dog who needs his exercise, so we take him on walks twice a day. He loves to sniff everything and, when he was little, taste-test most things. Goose poop and cigarette butts were especially tempting, for whatever reason. It took a lot to teach him to not go after those things, but eventually he learned to ignore them. However, we still have to keep an eye out, just in case there is some people-food on the road, perhaps dropped by a kid at their bus stop or by a contractor crew during their lunch break.
One evening recently, we were walking and Blue started to quickly munch something. I got him to drop it, discovering it was the top of a chicken leg bone. He didn’t have it in his mouth for more than 15 seconds, and we quickly moved along to continue our walk. We turned on to a new street and a couple houses down, he started to heave. Not just little burps, but the gut-pumping kind…and what he brought back up was nasty looking. Of course, he wanted to check out what he just vomited and had to be pulled away. I’ll spare you the detailed description, but after he finished, I took him home to get some water.
The next day during our morning walk, he went after the same chicken bone piece again. I was better prepared to stop him this time, and he had it for only a few seconds before spitting it out. However, within minutes, he was heaving again. After clearing his stomach for a second time in about 12 hours, I took him back home.
For the next two or three walks, I was hyper-vigilant when we would pass by the spot where he found the chicken bone. Fortunately, the bone was gone – presumably because another animal took it. However, Blue would still get excited each time we passed there and aggressively sniffed around, looking for it. Even though this nasty food had caused him to throw up twice, there he was, still hoping to find more of it to eat. As I quickly guided him past this spot each time, I was reminded of this oft-quoted proverb:
Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returns to its vomit,
so also a fool repeats his foolishness.
Typically when I hear this proverb, the one quoting it is talking about their frustrations with someone else. “Oh we tried to help them, but you know, as a dog returns to its vomit…” Any continued struggle someone else has with relationships, addictions, or bad habits can have this proverb thrown their direction.
But after dealing with my dog and thinking of the proverb, I had another realization: Not only did I need to steer Blue away from eating what he had regurgitated, but I also had to pull him away from the thing that was causing him to get sick. Since his vomiting did not occur immediately after eating the chicken bone, it’s entirely possible that his doggie-mind wasn’t making the correlation. To him, the enticing chicken and the delayed vomiting were not related.
So I began to wonder if there’s anything in my own life where I’m missing the connection. Is there anything I’m doing – a repeated action or thought process – that impacts my health or my relationships with others, and I’m simply not aware of it? Nothing immediately came to mind, so I prayed a dangerous prayer:
God, show me where I’m wrong or have a habit that is negatively impacting my life. I don’t want my foolishness to impact other people or reflect badly on You. Please show me what needs to change and what steps I can take next.
I call it a “dangerous prayer” because I don’t know what God will show me. He might reveal something that seems small and easy to manage…but it could also be something I’m not expecting that I will have to reframe my thinking on. Vulnerability before God can feel “dangerous” and “scary,” but there is precedent for praying this way. David once prayed:
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
I challenge you to pray the same way. Ask God to show you what needs correcting in your life. Maybe you can easily identify what vomit you keep coming back to. Or maybe you don’t see what is causing the vomit spots in your life. Talk to God about it…and when He shows you the way out, trust Him to lead you through those next steps.
Keep Pressing,
Ken