"Grunt"

                                                                                           (Friends: if you read yesterday's devotional about Sparrow, this will sound very familar to you.  I wrote this on February 15, 2003 about another beloved beagle, Grunt (named after Marine Corps infantrymen).  I thought about it as I wrote this morning's message about Sparrow, and I must be honest in telling you that it was very painful to open and read this again.  Grunt was killed about six months after this was written, and the loss still hurts.  Indeed, if Sparrow is a beagle princess, which she is, Grunt was the king.   Thanks, Glen)

    Often in the early morning our beagle Grunt comes up to me while I'm sitting at the computer working on these devotionals.  He sits down in front of me and simply looks me right in the eyes.

   
    I figure he's trying to say one of several possible things:

 

1. Whatcha writin' about today, Pops?

1.  Would you give me something to eat?

2.  Would you let me outside?

3.  Would you scratch my back?

4.  I love you.

 

     Admittedly, the first and last possibility are unlikely, although it's fun to imagine them.  It's much more likely that Grunt is seeking to have his needs met by somebody he figures loves to do just that.  And I do, so Grunt gets his back scratched, he gets let out, and then he comes in to have the breakfast I provide for him.

    
    Somehow I can't help but think of God in all of this, and of my need to do each morning exactly that which Grunt does.  Yes, I need to sit in front of our Lord, or better yet kneel, and look Him right in the eyes, as it were.  An open Bible is the place to begin, and then I should respond with prayers of devotion, request and the affirmation of the Lordship of Jesus for the day.  Hopefully, I can be even more attentive unto our Heavenly Father than Grunt is to me, and as consistent in the practice of beginning the day by looking unto my Master.

    
     Thankfully, those two possibilities about which I'm unsure with regard to Grunt are not unlikely at all for me.  Indeed, I can and should ask our Lord about His writing, that is, I can request that the Spirit of God might illuminate the Word of God in order that I might know Him and understand His truth in a greater way.  And I can express my love to the Lord, recognizing that it exists in me because He first loved me and has declared in Scripture that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).  What a wonderful gift our Lord has given in this possibility of communion with Him at the outset of our days, and thank you, Grunt, for reminding me. 

    
"O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips."

(Psalm 63:1-5)

Weekly Memory Verse
    For by Thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
(II Samuel 22:30)