Even In The Good Ones

I got a new dog this week.

Like all new things that come into my life, they cause me to think and reflect.

My dogs name is Lola. She is half German Shepard, and half Black Lab. She is beautiful, kind, and smart. She is also a puppy. So we are in the training phase of our relationship.

As far as personalities go, I may not be the best for training dogs. I tend to read quite a bit into the looks she gives, and think about how this training might make her feel. Yet, we are still working our way through it. I am determined to help Lola become a well trained dog.

As much as many of us may not like this comparison, people, are in large part a product of their training.

This is becoming painfully clear for me at this current time in my life.

Sometimes training looks like positive affirmation when we do something right; but it can also look like being ignored so many times, that we stop trying to get people's attention. It may even look like a negative attitude, because even if things are good now, they will surely be turning sour soon.

We don't really think about how we have been trained, it just becomes the way we live, the way we are.

It doesn't have to stay that way.

In my current season of life, Treasa and I are experiencing blessing like we never have before. We are in a beautiful home, we have cars that start every time you turn the key, and our kids are happy and healthy. We also love the church we are a part of, and they frequently express their love for us in return.

The strange thing is, I don't really know how to act in this season. It seems that most seasons of our life have been littered with hard times and hurt. So, I know how to keep my guard up and how to press through difficult times. I know how to keep my nose to the grindstone hoping that someday my hard work will pay off.

I don't however, know how to receive random acts of kindness.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 it says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens" It goes on for the rest of the chapter to explain there are many types of seasons. There are seasons of death, life, healing, building, laughing, dancing, war and peace.

Which brings me to this thought. If life is just going to roll through all these different seasons, what am I supposed to do with that?

One constant I find, whether in times of blessing, or times of difficulty, is the overwhelming love of God. He is always drawing me to Him; either through His Word, or by His Spirit, He expresses a desire to be close to me.

Seasons come and go, but God never changes, never ceases in His love for us.

So wherever you may be today, whatever you may be walking through, know that I, and others who love you, are praying for you. I am praying that you would draw close to Jesus.

As we are close to Him, we become more like Him. He can retrain our heart to trust, retrain our minds to be creative, and retrain us to desire to connect with others.

God is able to help us walk through all seasons of life, even in the good ones.