becoming obedient

the obedience class of life

Every once in a while, I take Rocco to doggie day care. It works out well when I have a busy day planned at work or he just has way too much energy because he runs around the entire time he’s there. Whether it’s 3 hours or 9 hours, that dog does not sit down the whole time. He just frolics with his friends.

Doggie Daycare has a camera so I can check up on Rocco. He’s the one right next to the employee with his ear flopped over.

Last month I went to pick up Rocco from daycare and noticed that they were having a sale on obedience classes. It’s been a long time since I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit so strongly. Without hesitating, I signed us up.

Because, you see, Rocco is very far from obedient. If I yell, “No!” in a low, strong voice, he usually listens. He also knows how to sit, but only if he thinks you have a treat. So, we needed some help and embarked on this new journey towards full-fledged obedience.

The trainer told us that the first step in training is to teach your dog how to make eye contact with you. It’s important! The dogs have to know that they should look to you for instruction on what to do in situations.

The way we were supposed to do this was by bringing a treat from our dog’s nose up to our nose. This was supposed to naturally bring their eyes to our eyes, at which point we would give them the treat.

The problem was: Rocco loves treats more than he loves me.

I could not make eye contact with this dog, even though I was practically putting the treat in my eye socket. His gaze was locked on the treat.

The trainer saw that I was struggling. She came over and gently told me that since Rocco is so motivated by food (honestly, same), that I would have to hide the treat in my hand so that he couldn’t see it. Then, I could us my finger, bringing it from his nose to mine, and that would help us connect.

Sure enough, it worked. It’s my new favorite thing to do with him and now he does it without treats!

Rocco making eye contact! But as you can tell from the mess in the background, we still have some work to do.

This got me thinking, as Rocco normally does, about God and our relationship with Him. The spiritual life is essentially one long obedience class— we are constantly learning how to become obedient to the will of God, to give up our own way of doing things and acknowledge that His loving plan is really what’s best for us.

Sometimes God gives us LOTS of good things. Think: treats. Relationships going great. We’re healthy. Job is stable. All of the good things.

Ideally, these things bring our eyes to God. They bring us to praise Him and surrender more to His loving will. But in reality, more often then not, we get focused on the treats. Instead of making eye contact with God, we become desperate only for the things that come from Him, feeling indifferent about how we get them.

So, sometimes God has to hide the treats from us. We struggle in relationships, we become sick and don’t immediately become well again, we have trouble at work. These things become a true mercy when they serve as opportunities to stop looking at God’s works and make eye contact with God Himself.

He’ll give us everything: He’s promised that. But in His mysterious ways, He has given us the opportunity to decide whether or not we want to accept the ultimate Gift of Heaven or the lesser gifts on earth. That’s true respect.

This is us after our first obedience class. Rocco is not appearing very obedient.

Three Reminders:

1. There is now an opportunity to become a paid subscriber to this newsletter here. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can participate in book club (more below), but really it just helps me make my time working on this (as opposed to other projects) worth it. If you think my writing is worth it, I would be grateful for your paid subscription, even if you have no interest in the book club.

2. I’m officially a grifter so… this newsletter is an affiliate with Sock Religious! You can use that link to find lots of fun products to start conversations about the faith (the t-shirts are my personal favorite. but also… these St. Cecilia socks.)

3. Rocco’s book club is underway! We had a wonderful time together last Friday as we talked a little bit about Trader Joe’s and a lot about life. If you’re interested in the next book club, it will be on Friday February 4th at 8pm EST. The book is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. For more info on joining the book club, read this post.