The faith of a dog

I have two dogs, Oakley (left) and Maci (right), and they just turned five! They are black labs, with a little bit of border collie in there too. Even though they are no longer puppies, they are still just as clumsy, loving, and ambitious as they were the first year we had them. Oakley is especially convinced that he can catch the birds and the squirrels when we let him out, which makes for quite a show when he nonstop barks at robins in the trees (specifically robins for some reason). The last time my parents were at their Tennessee home, my mom made note of how Oakley and Maci have a special kind of faith and hopefulness to believe every single time she opens the door that they have a chance to catch the squirrels at the bird feeder.

Dogs are loyal, gentle, protective, ambitious, cuddly, possessive, and so much more, making them the perfect companion. They don't call them 'Man's best friend' for no reason. When my mom mentioned the faith of a dog, it was a chance to relate to our furry friends. No matter how many times my dogs fail to catch the squirrel, they try with the same amount of enthusiasm and energy the next time they get the chance to try. They never lose faith in the chance that they might be able to catch one. When applying that to my life and my relationship with God, I found that I want to be that hopeful and to have that much faith. I want to believe that every single time I try to behave as Jesus would have, that I can accomplish that goal. Every time I try to witness, I am successful. Every time I go into the world, I represent my faith in the best and most accurate way.

While this sounds like a rather noble idea, it can honestly get disheartening from time to time when we strive for such goals, because we feel like we can't measure up. No matter how much faith or hopefulness we have, we just can't get there sometimes. We try to be like Jesus, but we know we are sinful creatures. We try to witness but are often confused and do not know how to interact with those who need help. We enter the world and are exposed to a lot of frustrations that test our flesh and often cause us to close up and turn inward. Why strive for these things when we constantly fail? Why continue to try when we could lower the bar and meet it? Well, we are called, as children of God, to represent God's love in the world. When we get to heaven, we want to be able to tell our Maker that we did our very best, that we gave 100% every single day, and that we tried to channel His grace and mercy to shine His light onto this world. We did not give into the world, but instead stayed hopeful, relying on our faith. Matthew 17:20 says that "if you have faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." This Bible verse squashes our doubt and the temptation to give up and give in. Faith conquers the fear that we can't measure up. Faith is a constant in our lives and it can be used as a shield against the ways in which the devil tries to make us give up before giving it our best.

Speaking of giving our best, I think it is important to consider that sometimes our best does not seem good enough. In school, I struggled terribly with history and with calculus. Calculus became a problem closer to the end of high school (and physics too), but history was always a sore subject for me. I am a very visual person and I had a hard time remembering names of generals, dates and times of battles, and timelines that felt rigid and difficult. I failed many a history tests throughout my grade school years. Nonetheless, I continued to give it all and to study for hours the night before a test. I would come home with the low test grade disappointed and upset, but my mom would comfort me and remind me that I had gifts elsewhere. Additionally, she would ask me if I did my best. My answer was always yes. And my mom told me that "your best is all you can do." My mom was and is right, and it made me feel better. I cannot give any more than everything I have. I studied, I paid attention in class, I did my homework. As an adult, I continue to ask myself if I am doing my best. Am I giving it my all, just like Maci and Oakley do when the door opens and they go after the squirrels? Am I being the best child of God I can be? Am I giving the most important people to me the best I can give? Am I doing the best I can to be a good employee? Am I being a good citizen of this country? Am I loving my neighbor the best I can? The list goes on. Yes, sometimes we fail, Maci and Oakley haven't caught a squirrel yet, but if we are giving our best then that is the most we can give.

Anyone in this world can try to make you feel like a failure, can make you feel less than worthy of something that you really are working hard for, that you put your all into. It is easy to get disheartened, to get bitter, to get mad. The shortcomings can make you second guess yourself and make you wonder if you are doing things right. While the people and situations that make you feel like a failure might have earthly power, we can cling to the heavenly power of our King and know that our best is all we can do. If we did our best and it still was not enough, then it was not meant for us. Sometimes we need to fail in order to open the door to the next chapter in the story that God has written for us. In truth, we fail every day, but God still shows us mercy and grace every day. We are not worthy of God's love, but He loves us regardless. This is not an excuse to behave in earthly ways, but instead it is motivation to do better, to demonstrate Godly love the best way we can, and to show similar mercy and grace to our peers, who make mistakes, just like us.

This is a great time to remind ourselves that Jesus never fails. He never makes a mistake. Even when we fail, we have God on our side, so we are already successful. Our failures are simply puzzle pieces in the grand scheme that will give glory to the Lord. Our shortcomings are simply adjustments on our journey through life. Through God, our faith can move mountains, we can be successful through His successes, and can use His strength to be better every day. We can put our faith in that. Again, we can relate to dogs and their enthusiasm to give it their all the next chance they get. Like how dogs are with squirrels, we can have faith that every morning we can chase the demons away, that we can shine God's light, that we can channel the Holy Spirit when we interact with others. We can rely on our faith that God will carry us through the ups and downs of this life. Alone, our best can feel like it is not enough to get to where we need to be, but with God, our best becomes enough and we can trust that He will never fail us. In this way, we show our faith by not giving into those feelings of unworthiness.

Just like Maci and Oakley, we fail from time to time. Sometimes these failures can make us question why we keep trying. But because God is on our side, we can rely on our faith and cling to the fact that when we give our best, it has the power of the Lord behind it, and the Lord will never fail us. At the end of each night, we can strive to be just as excited for the next morning, when we get let out of our homes and can give it our best to give God glory in every way possible.