Keeping Sophie Clean

Most of you know we have a Welsh Springer Spaniel named Sophie. She's an inside dog and to keep her clean and smelling good, I take her weekly to be groomed at Critter's Day Spa in Scott, owned by our good friends Abby and Judy Lantier. This past Tuesday I brought her home all clean and smelling lovely. Wednesday morning I let her roam the yard while I fed the horses and she found a pile of varmint excrement and decided to take a roll. Without being too graphic, it was black, runny and stunk to high heaven! Why a dog enjoys rolling in something like that, I'll never understand but when she came running up to meet me so we could go back inside she was a MESS! I was angry with her. Not because I had to clean her up, but because she would do such a thing and because it prevented me from bringing her inside where she would lay at my feet while I read my Bible and enjoyed my coffee (Our little morning ritual).

As I bathed her, between gags I saw the spiritual application clearly. How many times has God cleaned me up only to have me go out and roll in the filth of sin and selfishness. I know this makes God angry with me. Not because He has to clean me up again, but because I would do such a thing, and prevent the intimate time with Him that He desires and I so desperately need.

To keep Sophie from returning to the Varmint poo, I took a shovel out there and buried it. My solution: Remove the temptation! I'm looking for a way to do the same with the stuff I have a tendency to roll in. Remove the temptation and bury the stuff that makes me unclean before God. If it works for Sophie, maybe it will work for me.