Lessons Learned from my Dog

by Jimmy Cochran
Published March 23, 2005

Do you ever wonder what good you are possibly doing for the Kingdom of God? After all, your day is full of work, school, car pools, soccer, baseball, church, homework, taking care of children or aging parents, trying to have some type of social life, etc. So, then you fall into bed at the end of the day and (hopefully) at least say a prayer and read a scripture at some point, but, you are dead tired and wonder what difference you have made in someone's life for God today? And how you can possibly do any better? It can lead to a frustrating situation.

My dog, Murphy, taught me the other day that even a little bit done can make a difference. My grass is brown. Brown all over. Dead looking brown. A field of dead hay would look as good as my front yard. Crayola doesn't even make a crayon color with this same ugly shade of brown. Get the point? When I was walking Murphy one afternoon I noticed that there were all these little holes about an inch or so in diameter all over the front yard. While I wondered what in the world (or what alien being) inhabited my yard, I happened to notice Murphy walking across the yard to do what, well, to do what dogs do when they are outside after they sniff every available leaf, cigarette butt, wet paper and dead bug.

Anyway, I noticed that his feet were making these little holes as he walked across the barren dead yard. If you know me much at all, you know how even a shiny object can fascinate me for hours, so I started to look down into these holes to see what was in there. At first, I saw more dead grass. But, deeper down in there I saw little blades of green new life where the new grass was growing! It had been covered up with the dormant grass and Murphy was uncovering it! Over the next day or two, I noticed that where all these little Murphy footprints were, that the new grass was growing quicker and higher than anywhere else in the yard. They just had a little help from my terrier.

Now, where I'm going with this? Murphy was just going about his normal daily routine, doing what dogs do. His feet are little and hardly make a dent, but it was enough to open up a small space to let the light in and start new growth.

We are the same way. If we go about our daily lives, doing what we normally do at work, school, home, wherever we are, AND if we do it as we live Christ's example here on earth...we make that little dent in someone's life, let some of God's light in and allow new life to begin to grow. We don't have to teach Sunday School, sing in the choir, lead a missions group, or any other “church things" to do the Kingdom work. We just have to live; as Christ wants us to live, meet people where they are, show love and make that little dent in their lives. One of my favorite gospel songs is "Little is Much When God is In It". The words tell us that you don't have to be in the biggest fields of harvest, you can serve God wherever you. Look for ways in your daily life that you can make a dent in someone’s life and let in God’s Light so that new growth can begin.

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