The Dog at the Gate

We have a small Bichon Frieze dog that spends most of her time in the house. Occasionally she explores the parameter of our backyard within the safe confines of the fence. I was doing some gardening a couple of weeks ago and was traveling between the front and back yards. The gate is a little sticky and I decided to leave it open. I glanced towards the gate and saw our little dog with her feet just at the edge of the line of where the gate usually is, instinctively knowing where the line of the gate would fall. We don’t let our dog out into the front yard unattended. The front yard is filled with unseen dangers. The street slopes sharply and a driver of a car might be hard pressed to see a little dog in the road. The danger is compounded by the fact that our little dog is now deaf and would not hear a car coming. Our dog also has a bad sense of direction and can be completely lost, just by making her way around the corner. But to our little dog, who is unaware of these dangers, the front yard can be a place of new smells, new places to explore and as the picture shows, can be enticing to her. I was struck by the parallel to our own lives. We read in God’s word that there are things of which we should abstain. These things are seemingly innocent and/or fun to us and yet hold great danger, both spiritually and physically. These things can pull us further away from God in terms of our relationship with him. Instead, we should “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8 NIV by seeking to please him with our lives.