Spiritual Lessons from Zeke

I was walking with my dog today and had an “aha” moment. Zeke is a 100 pound Black Lab-Great Dane mix (to the best of our knowledge, he was a pound puppy). Zeke has the instincts of a Lab. He loves nothing more than to fetch, except to fetch in water. He will ignore treats and everything else if you will throw his toy just one more time.

Zeke has developed a bad habit. He doesn’t want to wait to see where his toy goes. He just wants to take off running. If he sees where the toy goes, he is laser direct to it. At a full sprint, he goes directly to it barely slowing down to pick it up and return it for another throw. When he doesn’t wait, however, he has no clue where the toy lands. He will look back at me accusingly as if to say, “Why didn’t you throw it where I was going?”

After a brief moment of chastisement, he begins to look for the toy. I am often amazed at how hard he works to find his toy. There is no quit in Zeke. I have seen him search for more than half an hour to find the toy. I am also amazed at how he instinctively searches in what remarkably resembles a search pattern. Rarely will he fail eventually to find his toy, even if it is a stick in the middle of the woods (and it is always the right stick, never a substitute). Often after a long search, he will bring it back to me asking me to throw it again. He is panting hard because he searches at full speed. I have usually gone on to my next project.

Today, I had several thought about the parallels between my spiritual journey and Zeke.

• Am I as single minded about what I was created to do, that is to be in relationship with God, as Zeke is about fetching his toy?
• How do I run ahead of Jesus and lose sight of what I am supposed to be doing? When I do this, do I look back at Jesus accusingly as if it were his fault?
• Am I determined to find the object of my affection or do I grow weary of the search and settle for finding something less than a relationship with Jesus?

I must confess that too often my spiritual life is something less than Zeke’s passion for his toy. I am easily interrupted and distracted. I am easily satisfied, settling for a quick prayer and hurried reading of Scripture.

Luke 10:27 He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" NIV

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." NIV

Lord, forgive me when I follow you with half-hearted devotion. Forgive me for those times when I fail to love you with my whole heart, mind, and strength. Train me in following your paths of righteousness. Call me back when I am lost.