Get It Out of the Kitchen

Let me tell you something about Beans. He loves his "egg". That's what we call his favorite toy. Let me give you a little background.

When we first got Beans, he was roughly 7lbs and a tiny little thing. He was so obedient and faithful to us. If we went from the kitchen to the bedroom, you better believe he would follow us back there. Even if it was to simply drop something off.

As he got older and bigger, he loved to destroy things. Tissue paper, toys, even a pair of my shoes suffered the wrath of Beans.  What we learned about Beans (and most dogs) is that their destructive habits generally are due to pent up energy. There was this period (silly us) where we thought we'd try to let Beans stay out and roam the house throughout the day. We thought if he had more space, opportunity to sleep on the bed, etc., he might behave better. Let me tell you what we learned: More Space = More Opportunities (to destroy things!) Who knew he could chew up a TV remote, pull and air freshener out of the wall and chew that up too!

After some conversation with our most amazing vet, Teresa Calvert at Westview Animal Clinic, she advised us to do more activities with Beans. He needed more opportunities to release energy, think, use his senses, etc. With working full time, we weren't exactly sure how to get all of his energy out. So we purchased more toys, particularly ones we could throw outside and he could chase. The funny thing is that any toy with a nubbin', hole, tag, sliver, button, wrinkle, or bump...he could find a way to destroy it. That was...until the egg.  This is just a hard plastic toy, shaped like an egg that when knocked with a paw might go to the right, might go to the left or wobble both ways until who knows how long. That toy has, for years, been his favorite thing. He bites it, scratches it, carries it, hits it, barks at it and the list goes on.

The funny thing about this though, is that inevitably, when playing with it, it will end up in the kitchen.  Our kitchen is linoleum and when a slimy, wet plastic egg gets in their, it bounces off cabinets and slides off in every which direction. Beans must think this is fun, but he starts barking at it and it always gets really loud. What is amazing to me, in the midst of that madness, all I have to say is "Get it out of the kitchen" and he knows exactly what I'm asking him to do. He quietly bites the egg and carries it out of the kitchen and starts to play with it again on the carpet. While it might take him a minute to get his teeth perfectly in the scratched grooves so he can carry it out of the kitchen, he always listens.

I find myself not being as obedient as my precious Boston Terrier. In the midst of my destruction, madness and loud talking, I fail to listen to what my Master is gently saying to me.

Trust me. Let me hold you. Trust me. Let me carry this burden. Trust me. I want to walk beside you. Trust me.  

I don't always stop what I'm doing. I don't always respect the request. I don't always act (inside and out) with the actions He's called me to.  But, I am thankful that something as simple (but valuable to me) as my dog can remind me of that voice.

I know deep down in my core that the voice gently calling me is the voice I need to listen to. Like Beans, I might end up in the kitchen nearly every day. But I pray that in the midst of my future madness that I can step away from my selfish focus and hear what God is saying.