I recently got a dog. Yep, a little white fluffy rescue puppy my husband and I named Blitz. He is a Bichon mix whose name used to be Mayhem. Now, I know what you are thinking, why in the world would you get a dog someone else named Mayhem? What were you thinking? Well, you know, they say love is blind. The little guy was just too cute to pass up…but, he has earned two additional names since he came to live with us. I call him Destructopuppy because he is in to everything and loves to chew paper and my husband calls him Stormagedon because he seems to create those uncontrollable storms that come up with more fury than a hurricane. But, we have learned to love him anyway…I think they may call that insanity….
As I said, the little guy is so cute and that cuteness has saved him many times and the fact that he did not come with a money back guarantee! (Just kidding) Of course, there are no bad dogs, only dogs that haven’t been trained properly, right? Training, that’s right, proper training. The only question is, is it his training or mine? I think he thinks it is mine and to some extent he is correct. I am learning all kinds of things I had never learned about dogs and how to train them.
I am reading a very interesting book called When Pigs Fly! by Jane Killion, which is about training dogs that are seemingly Impossible. You know the kind, the self dog – self-willed, self-absorbed, and self-determined. The ones that are only interested in what they want to do. They ignore your calls for them to come, they pull against you to get away, they chase after almost everything, they bark at everything and nothing, they jump on you, and they proudly come and show off their latest prizes, even if it is your best shoe in their mouth. More importantly, they still expect you to feed them and play with them, but, only on their terms. Basically, they seem beyond help, hopeless, impossible.
Yep, little Blitz is really a “Pigs Fly” dog. The good news is there is hope for him to learn to pay attention to his master. According to the book, I can teach him to really want to interact with me and become willing do what I ask him to without force. He doesn’t have to stay impossibly un-trainable for the rest of his doggy life. He just has to learn to become biddable.
Biddable, what’s that? In Ms Killion’s book she talks about working with the dog so that they become biddable. Why? Well, the definition of biddable is: willing to do what is asked; obedient.
I’m in control
Self-dogs are in the drivers seat of their own life. They aren’t too willing or concerned about what you want them to do as their master. They yield to no one and their pleasures are wrapped up in the scents of the world around them. The way self-dogs see it, they are number one, not accountable to any other and certainly aren’t willing to do anything unless they think there is something in it for them. The whole attitude of the self-dog is kind of like the willful child’s apparent compliance: “you may be able to make me sit, but on the inside I am still standing.” Yep, you might be able to force some compliance from the self-dog, but he’s never going to willingly surrender his will to his master. His desires aren’t master focused but are self-serving until he willingly becomes biddable.
Now, when a dog learns to be biddable, he has learned that it is very rewarding to “want” to please his master. Wait, as I was reading this in the book, the LORD Master brought to mind the fact that most of us act like “Pigs Fly” dogs. We are off doing whatever we want and not paying any attention to the Master’s voice, wishes or commands. Stubborn, impossible, prideful self-dogs. You get the picture
How does a dog become more biddable? Well, through association with his master. Purposeful play teaches the dog to choose to become more interested in what you are doing more than all the scents and pleasures he believes to be in his surroundings. Through this relationship, your “pigs fly” dog becomes willing to do what is asked of him. But, this is just the beginning of the training. Now that your little dog will pay attention to you, you can narrow the focus and teach more specific things. You have a goal in mind and everything you do with the dog has a planned purpose with that goal in mind. How wonderful it is for us that GOD, our LORD Master also has a goal in mind for each of us. He reveals His plans for us as we build on our relationship with Him.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 GOD has a purpose for all He does. In this passage from Jeremiah we learn that GOD’s plans for us are for our own good and not to hurt us. God’s plans are not selfish in anyway. His ways are always perfect and were set in motion even before the beginning of the world. Yes, even before we were born, GOD knew each one of us and the purpose He planned for our lives. He knows which road in our journey we need to take to accomplish His goal for us. But first, we must become willing to trust Him.
Growing up, I was not very biddable. I always wanted to know why I should do something before I would do it. It made my parents and me very miserable most of the time. My self-dog mode was strong and I carried that mind-set into my relationship with GOD. But our loving Father in Heaven knew that it would take some very difficult trials in my life to get my attention. He had to remove the “Why” factor in my thinking and replace it with total trust in Him. He had to bring me to a place of willingness – to an attitude where my heart was willing to take my eyes off myself and turn my attention to Him only. To attune my hearing to His call and come to Him because I wanted to please Him more than myself. With my attention turned to Him, I was ready to listen to Him as my LORD Master, wanting to know Him more and more. For His Word states in Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am GOD.”
The lures of the world
The self-dog attitude in us is in direct conflict to the command in Psalm 46:10. We cannot be still and know Him when we are so distracted by all the world’s scents. GOD is to be the only scent we must pay attention to and most often GOD uses very difficult lessons to refocus our attention to Him only. We must learn that our willingness to be obedient to His wishes is far more rewarding for us than chasing all the squirrels, having all the latest toys or chewing up the neighbor’s flowers. For the world’s scents may please for a little while, but nothing can compare to GOD’s rewards, which satisfy completely to the core of our inner being and will last for all eternity.
Are we like the “Pigs Fly” dog, still chasing all the scents of the world, oblivious to the wishes and pleasure of our LORD Master, Jesus Christ? We don’t have to be. There is hope and help for us in Jesus Christ. Nothing is too hard for Him. So, in faith cry out to our LORD Master and ask Him for His help to get rid of the self-life in you. His is the only help we can receive that changes to the very core of who we are. Believe He can do this and cry out to Him through your faith. He is able to accomplish His will for us if our attitudes are humble and willing before Him. We cannot change ourselves but we must be willing to go to Him and ask Him to work this change in us. We must be willing to moment by moment turn our hearts, our very life over to Him to work out that change in us. He will do it, for He says so in Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”
The clay yields to the Potter’s hands as He carefully crafts His vessel into which He pours His very Life.
What a wondrous place to be, in the Potter’s hand, being molded and formed by the mighty and awesome GOD of the universe, into the very vessel He desires us to be. What Love we have from and in our LORD Master Jesus Christ!
Oh LORD Master, thank you for being a mighty GOD, a GOD who can do anything. Thank you for not giving up on us even when we are impossible. Thank you for Your strength and life. Thank you that we do not have to accomplish on our own. LORD Master, we are weak, help us to be willing for You know we cannot in our own strength. LORD Master we repent of our prideful and self-determined attitudes and for following all the lures of this world instead of Your voice.
Forgive us, LORD Master for our stubborn unwillingness. Place in our hearts the desire to be still before You and to listen to Your voice. LORD, create in us biddable hearts that freely offer our full attention to You and Your commands. LORD, You are not swayed by what we believe impossible, for “there is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might.” (Jeremiah 10:6)
LORD Master, bring us to the end our self held world so that we will come to know the pleasure of pleasing only You.
Amen
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