As we set out for a walk on such a beautiful sunny day we had no idea that when we got onto the field our little dog Maggie would decide that she wanted an adventure! For many years we always kept Maggie on her lead as she was prone to scampering off on her own, however last year we finally trained her (with the aid of many biscuits!) to walk without the lead. She became very independent and often waited for us to walk ahead so that she could run to us and receive her treat of a yummy biscuit!
On this particularly fine day Maggie was in one of her boisterous moods and held a particular interest in a pheasant whom yesterday she nearly caught. The pheasant had flown into the field full of rapeseed and she had attempted to follow it. Today though there was no pheasant but Maggie had not forgotten! We walked ahead as usual checking now and then that she was following, quite a large distance had formed between us when Mum turned around and Maggie had disappeared. Frantically we began to search the area for Maggie, calling her and trying to listen if she was whining. The yellow field was huge though and she could have been anywhere! For 20 minutes we searched and there appeared to be no sign of her. Just as quickly as she had disappeared mum had caught a glimpse of her coming out of the edge of the field and ran down to grab her. Maggie was safe! How glad and full of joy we were to see her! We put her back on the lead and that was the end of her adventure.
This little story does have a point as it reminded me so much of how easy it is to wander from God. Something grabs our attention and we may diverge from God's path and quickly realise that we are no longer within His safe hands. We suddenly believe that we can be independent and do not need God's help anymore. However just like Maggie we quickly find ourselves lost and overwhelmed and desperately searching for the path back to the safety of God.
In Matthew 18:12-14 it says, "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish"...The Lord never stops searching for us just as we did not stop searching for Maggie until we had found her. So let us be thankful today that God will always seek us out even if we wander and let us not allow distance to form between us and the Lord.
Proverbs 1:15 "My child, don't go along with them! Stay far away from their paths"...
Peace be with you always.
