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He looks like I’m holding him hostage, but he was the one that snuggled in next to me. Not like a normal dog, but like a human dog who sits up on the couch instead of curling up beside me like a normal dog.
His expression is so tentative, it makes me feel a little sad. He’s the sweetest dog, honestly. He is always the first one to investigate tears or tension or sadness when he senses it. He will pile up next to you and stay put until you tell him you’re ok. If he thinks someone is in danger, he’ll try to put himself between that person and the danger. When I smoke out the kitchen and set off the smoke alarm, he runs to it and barks like he’s telling us we’re in danger.
However, if you, a stranger to him, walked through my front door right now, you would think he was gonna tear your face off. He’s ferocious and huge and he loses his mind around anyone he doesn’t know.
I have been wrestling with the distance between me and the people I don’t know. Not just the physical distance, but the gap that opens up when I look past someone in the grocery store as if we aren’t both human beings with struggles and needs for connection. I am courteous, but I don’t slow down. Sometimes I don’t speak to people I do know if they don’t see me. Even church is hit and miss if I’m not feeling “peopley.” For that, I’m sorry. I make lofty claims about my love for God and neglect to show love to people around me if it’s inconvenient.
We live in the loneliest society in the world. My girls were just telling me that when they compliment someone who is unsuspecting, they get awkward, even painful responses. It’s because we don’t know how to talk to each other. We don’t know how to receive kindness from each other. We are so buried in our own business that we are unable to be about our Father’s business.
I’m praying for a change in me and really making efforts daily to bridge to people. I want to share the love of Jesus everywhere I go, even if I’m not always great at it.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:7-8 NASB1995
It is uncomfortable to compliment someone I don't know as I don't know how it is going to be received or trying to help someone as I don't know how that is going to be received either. I always try to remember that is the enemy trying to speak into me and that helps me overcome the thought and just do it anyway, just love anyway.
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