During this time, I've had quite a few "ostrich days" where I have felt like hiding somewhere. There have been days where I am thankful that God has given me the gift of life and allowing me to spend another day with my family and friends, and I am able to see and enjoy God's gift of seeing the beautiful snow capped mountains, feeling the rain and the sun, smelling the trees, wet grass and other natural wonders God has placed on Earth. Then there were the days where I just pray to God to just give me the strength to get through the day. The latter describes when I am at my lowest, feeling so lost, alone and scared. These are the times where I begin to wonder if Jesus is truly with me when I need Him the most.
If you have not read The Shack, I strongly encourage you to do so. This post is not going to give you a summary of the book nor give you my perspective on it. I can tell you, though, that the book has truly affected me, and all in a positive way. It has also forced me to look at my current life in a different light and my faith. I've made a commitment to myself to truly look and appreciate the simple things in life. I guess you can say that this is "part II" of my New Year's Resolution!
Our dog (or more like puppy) Marley has proved to be that living example of living a simple life and loving it. We are truly fortunate to have Marley in our life. A co-worker of mine and her parents had a litter of puppies in late June, and she was looking for a home for one last pup. This pup was considered the runt of the litter. His mom is a Terrier and his dad is a pure Chihuahua. Over the summer our beloved Buster passed away. Buster adopted us at the time I was pregnant with our son Christopher over 10 years ago. We already had two cats --- Kailey (a girl) and Alvin (a boy), but I truly missed Buster and having another one in our family was something I thought could help fill part of that void....so we adopted the pup.
Our son had a variety of different names for our new puppy, but we decided to wait to see his true personality reveal itself before deciding on an appropriate name. Let me assure you that Marley is truly the MOST appropriate name. Other than his lack of size and weight like the real Marley, he has all of those attributes befitting of the name of Marley!! Underneath that adorable face and tiny body is a mischevious pup who has chewed (well more like eaten) through four AV cables (the one with red, white and yellow plugs) that connect to our DVD player and our TV. He digs through all the small trash cans in our bathroom and rooms and pulls out anything made of paper and chews it to shreds if he hasn't eaten it in its entirety. He loves dirty socks and underwear. My son has a habit of throwing his dirty clothes on the floor, and Marley always finds his dirty socks and underwear and runs like nobody's business up and down the stairs as we are scrambling try to catch him. He finds tiny bite size snacks in my son's Lego pieces and has torn to shreds some of my son's Pokemon card collection that is on the floor or at a height that Marley can find. He's already planted his "pee-scent" in practically every bush in our backyard along with anything that is vertical --- posts on our patio, palm trees, etc. He digs through our cat's litter box for his favorite "dessert" --- those brown "delicacies" we humans call "cat poo" but Marley considers it as his "cat cookies"! Gross!
But underneath all this mischevious behavior is the lovable pup who ALWAYS greets us when we come home. He spends over 8 hours a day during the week with Kailey and Alvin while we are at work and our son is at school. He always greets us with feverish jumps on our legs, jumping on our couch and quickly through the house, up and down the stairs as if he's announcing to the world that "They're home! They're home! They're home!!!!!!" He lovingly reaches with his face wanting to give each of us "Marley kisses". In his crazy "Marley moments" he will excitedly run through the house, jump on a living room couch, bounce his body off of the couch as a spring board, and run around the house chasing Alvin or Kaiely then run again on the couch and do it again and again. He'll play football in our back yard with our son and catching a "Marley" size football and run for a touchdown! He runs towards our refrigerator when he hears the ice dispenser.....he loves eating tiny ice cubes! We all call him "Marley puppy". He sleeps with my husband and me on our bed all night, and he often pushes his body right up against one of ours during the night. Marley is our automatic alarm clock that always goes off at around 6 a.m. every morning when he needs to be let out side to "do his business." Marley's life, just like the lives of Kailey and Alvin and Max (our son's Bearded Dragon) is very simple --- his is about eating, sleeping, playing, and being with family. His life is not complicated...it's very simple. It's what I call a "Marley-Tudinal" life. My son prefers the term "Marley Doggin" life!
As I've written in my previous posts, my family, like some many thousands of families in the US, are going through some very tough economic times, and we are all being forced to not only look for ways to cope financially, but also spiritually and emotionally. Before the recession, I believe that many have focused more on material things. I know my family and I did. And you know what? I also believe that a life focused on primarily material things creates blinders that prevent us from appreciating the most important things in our life. It's not about the things we buy or have that counts. It's the simpler things that truly money cannot buy. Money cannot buy true love of your family and friends. Money cannot buy the infinite love and grace bestowed to us by God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Money cannot buy faith or hope. Money cannot buy the gift of life with your family or friends. These are truly simple things and ones that are invaluable. Here's to living a truly a "Marley-Tudinal and Marley Doggin" life!
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2 comments:
Marley is ADORABLE!!!! Look at that FACE! I agree with you, Tessa, it IS about the smaller things in life, isn't it? Thanks for this new post. It helps to know that I'm not the only one feeling frustrated (and deep down, I know I'm not alone, but I get so caught up in my own stuff that I forget). It's nice to remember that we're all in this together. Many blessings to you and yours.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. The pictures of Marley are so cute!! We all have problems, but we definitely need to focus on the big picture - faith, family and friends.
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