DOG, COOKIES, DREAM SNATCHER

PRACTICE: Do you have a dream for your next 6 months?

Disclaimer: I am not a dog person. I accept the role they play in many people’s life. I don’t own one. I will occasionally dog sit my son’s dog because I love my son and my son loves his dog. Now that we have that out of the way, where is this headed?

Canaan (dog’s name) is an ideal pet – seldom barks but will growl softly if something is not right. He is nonaggressive, mild mannered, looks for love and affection from friend and foe and is great with children. He is so obedient, that I often walk him unleashed. He is fed a special food and is not allowed to eat human food. His demeanor is so good that I sometimes forget that he is a dog… let me explain.

I recently made a beautiful but not tasty batch of Valentine’s Day cookies with the next-door neighbor to share with other neighbors. Because of the lack of taste, I didn’t include them in the packages we delivered instead I decided to repurpose them as table decoration for Sunday’s dinner. I laid them on the dining room table to harden while I continued to envision their future arrangement.

Imagine my surprise, when my husband exclaimed, “why are cookie crumbs all over the dining room rug?” Canaan, our house guest, had managed to get on a dining room chair and consumed no less than a dozen cookies. He and I had been at home together all afternoon and I never heard a thing. The evidence was on the floor and guilt was on his face. I had forgotten he was in the house and no matter how ideal of a pet he is – he is still a dog. He reverted to a natural instinct and by doing so, snatched my dream before it had a chance to become reality. I could do nothing about it... I couldn’t put the crumbs of the cookies back together. The dream was gone. I lamented for a few minutes, cleaned up the mess and moved on to another vision.

Dream lessons learned: Not all “friends” care about my dreams and will sometimes snatch or derail them when I put them on the table. Sharing my dream with a friend whose first reaction is always negative–expect negative feedback. If I share my dream with someone who has hasn’t had an original idea as long as I have known them? it might become theirs, leaving me with crumbs. I know my circle and their natural tendencies… I share accordingly. Had I remembered Canaan was a dog with the potential to eat cookies from the dining room table, I might have saved my dream and a lot of cleanup.

Isaiah 29:8

PONDER THIS THOUGHT--- Broken dreams can be the precursor to greater ones.