From the furry side
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Where’s my focus? Sallie and I are up to "loose leash walking" in obedience school. The rules are simple: when she pulls on the leash, I stop. When she turns and looks at me, we start again.
We were walking this weekend, and her beagle nose caught something exciting in the underbrush by a parking lot I had cut through. She hit the end of the leash, and I stopped, waiting for her to look at me. She continued to sniff and pull, ignoring me completely. I made "kissy" noises; she ignored me. I called her name in a bright, cheery voice. Again, she ignored me.
That's when I broke the rules and dragged her out of the bushes, across the grass and dirt, and onto the asphalt parking lot. Then I waited for her to look at me, making encouraging noises and speaking her name.
She refused to look at me. She finally sat in front of me, but looked to one side, then the other, down at my feet, behind me in the distance ... she would not look directly at me! It took more than five minutes before she finally submitted and gave me eye contact. I told her what a good girl she was, and on we went. (I won't go through that parking lot again!)
And I was thinking ... so often, when I'm tempted by something (what James calls my "evil desires"), I know that the solution (the "way out" Paul promises in Corinthians) is to turn from the temptation and look at my Lord. But will I do it? Far too often I refuse, looking past Him, around Him, not willing to submit to Him. And only when I finally give up and look directly at Him, when I see Him as Master, only then can He reach out and help me.
I think of the chorus of "Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus," written by Helen Lemmel in 1922: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
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