Due to a lot of heath issues a couple of years ago we were forced to put our dog of almost 16 years down. While her health had been in decline over the years and we were moving to a new home and because of diffculty climbing stairs and going blind she would have a very difficult adjustment to new surroundings. I really miss Freckles a lot, she was a great dog and I think about her every so often. One of the things she would love to do is play ball. Throw a ball and she would chase it all day using up all of her energy until she would just drop in the yard. The after a few moments she would gather up enough energy and start all over again. She would never grow tired of chasing that ball. It did not matter what the weather was on a hot day, cold day she was always eager to chase that ball. But there was one thing I notcied about freckles and her ball chasing routine: you could not switch balls in the middle of a game. Once you began a game with a certain ball if you threw a different ball even though it looked exactly like the other one she would not return it. It had to be the original ball. I remember throwing a ball over the fence and losing it that stopped the game because she would not chase a new ball because she wanted to play with the old one. No matter how many times I tried to fool her she would never go for the different ball.
When I think about I wish I was alot more like my dog. Many times I put a great deal of energy into chasing things. In my pursuit of getting closer to God I have discovered there are alot of balls being tossed around my yard for me to pursue. It would be easy for me to chase after the biggest, the most attractive or the one with the most bells and whistles and in doing so I can lose sight of my original goal. Freckles was focused in going after that ball and in the same way I need to be focused inb my pursuit of a growing relationship with God. Nothing brought her more joy than the chase and in the same way discovering God brings us a joy we can not get by any other means. It is my prayer that we continue in our pursuit of a meaningful faith.