What a thrill it is to be writing again!  I have so many stories stashed in notebooks and diaries throughout my house.  It’s nice to have one central place for them to reside now!  Thank you all for the encouraging words, technical feedback, dog training tips, and therapist referrals!  I am so excited to start this journey with you!

Have you ever felt that it is your duty to fix every problem you encounter?  Through the years I have seen a pattern in my life in which I jump right in and start helping, often stretching resources (time and/or money), under the pretext of doing the “right thing.”  It’s not a bad thing to want to help…….unless you’re actually making things worse.  Then I wondered, “how do you know when to help, and how much to help?”  Let me share with you now a few excerpts from the epic fail chapter of my life and what I’ve learned since then.

Several years ago, I attended a Women of Faith conference in San Francisco.  Each night, the streets were filled with hundreds of spiritually-fed women, exiting from the conference center.  Among these happy, upbeat, Christian pedestrians were the usual denizens of urban blight; the homeless, the mentally ill, and the not-so-approachable vagrants.  The contrast in these populations was evident in their countenance and appearance.  Even more so when you factor in the lack of interaction between said populations.  I spotted an elderly woman who seemed to be struggling with a shopping cart that was overflowing with her closely guarded treasures. So many people were just walking past her, seemingly oblivious to her plight.  That’s when that little voice in my head starting yelling at me.  “Why aren’t we doing something to help these people?  We’re Christians!  We should be helping them….right now!”  I guess it was up to me to set the example, and get this Christian lovefest going.  Without hesitation, I left my group of friends, and strolled over to her, grabbed her cart, and said, “let me help you with that.”

Pause.  I’ll get back to San Francisco in a moment.  Let’s switch gears a little as I take you back about 20+ years to yet another example in this life chapter:

I was walking my dog, Max, on an unusually warm afternoon.  Instead of our normal route, I was feeling a little adventurous so we crossed the main drag, wandering into an unfamiliar neighborhood a few miles away from my house.  I realize this may not sound the least bit adventurous to a younger crowd, but we gen-xers know that a lone woman walking a dog in a strange ‘hood in the late 80’s could be very dangerous.  If something unforeseen had happened, it’s not like I could whip out my iPhone, Siri my way over to the nearest Starbucks, and relay my near-death experience to all of my SnapChat homies.  But I digress.

It was during this long walk, that we met up with a scruffy, but friendly little mutt, who started to follow us.  We started walking up and down the street to see if our new friend might be inclined to show us where he lived.  He just kept following us.  As we turned to walk away, I noticed a woman coming out of her house and I thought perhaps that help was on the way. Thank goodness.  It was getting pretty warm and I was ready to cut this walk short.  No such luck.  She glanced at us, but didn’t say anything,  then proceeded to light a cigarette. She was obviously not in a state of panic over a missing dog, and didn’t call after me as I walked away, with my new canine groupie. She took a few drags from her cigarette, turned around, and went back inside.  It was now up to me to get Fido home.  Fortunately for us, he had an ID tag, with a phone number and address.  Now Max and I could escort our little tag-a-long to his home and all would be well…….

Let’s stop here for a moment.  Both of these events happened about 20 years apart and yet somehow I find that their life lessons mesh well together.  Perhaps this will make more sense when I divulge their conclusions……….which I’ll post next week.  Sorry, I just really, really, want you to come back!

While I was reflecting on these stories, I discovered that they really do have many lessons and patterns in common.  Yes, my figurative and literal dogly worlds collided, yet again, and provided spiritual growth!  I also came to understand the wise counsel I received several years ago from my pastor when I asked him the same questions I mentioned at the beginning of this blog.  Come back next week as I share this life changing pastoral guidance and the drastically different, yet strikingly similar conclusions to these stories.