March 20, 2023

Nellie

Read: UMH 474

Have you ever walked with a senior dog? If you have, you know it takes a lot of patience, love, gentleness and a good sense of humor. The same things you need to walk a puppy but in very different ways. With a senior dog you slow down and enjoy the surroundings with them, take in the fragrance of the air and feel the breeze on your face. It’s like they are now teaching you. Remember the old saying “stop and smell the roses?” Well, they do, along with the clump of grass, the tree trunk, the rock, the leaf, the stick—the list goes on and on (some things I don’t even want to know what it was or where it came from). It’s their social media fix. The who-was-here-and-what-they-did, a fragrance left behind to tell a story or guide them to something special. Maybe it’s a memory of something long ago: "remember the time I ran across this field after that squirrel! Boy, did I give him the chase of a lifetime! Dog, to run like that again. woof.”
 
They wobble and weave and you have to gently help them, becoming a bumper pad, sometimes you’re not fast enough and they topple over, so you give them a hug, tell them it’s OK before helping them back on four paws. We all stumble and fall at times. They will look at you with gratitude for being there when they needed you and wag that tail as if smiling (thanks Mom). You know life is good when the tail wags so fast that it spins in circles; you know that happiness when someone comes home you are so excited to see, or when you smell dinner and know it’s got a little extra hunk of goodness just for you. Woof woof. The simple things, a rub behind the ears, a good belly scratch or nice nap in the sunshine knowing that someone who loves you is close by even if you don’t see them.

Hmm, I have learned a lot from walking with Nellie and Sadie, or should I say our Heavenly Father has taught me a lot through them.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for walking with me, teaching me to trust that You will be there to be my bumper pad when I stumble and to pick me up when I fall. Through this season of Lent guide me on the path that You choose for me as I surrender to Your lead. Amen

Julie Battle – CGUMC