Do all things without arguing or complaining. -Philippians 2:14Yesterday as I was driving home from school, I saw a dog sitting at the end of my gravel road. He was so cute so I pulled over just to pet him. When I started walking towards him I noticed something was wrong with him but I wasn't sure what it was. Once I was close enough to pet him and I stuck my hand out to try, I noticed that half of his face was mangled. His eye was shut, swollen and bleeding. As if that's not bad enough, he had a HOLE in his skull, I could literally see inside of his head. I'm terribly compassionate which is a good thing for everyone I come in contact with but an awfully painful thing for me. I was on the phone with Matt and I immediately just started crying so hard that I couldn't catch my breath. My heart broke to see this puppy with these terrible wounds. AND to top it all off, the sweet dog licked my hand and looked up at me like I was his savior. I got back in my car and pulled it over to the side of the road and locked the doors and left it there. I was able to get the dog to follow me all the way to my house and into our fenced in back yard. He followed me everywhere, licking my hand and whimpering when I would stop petting the good side of his head. This dog had the sweetest demeanor I've ever seen in any dog, healthy or hurt. We fed him some dog food and took him to the vet's office. Even though he was obviously scared to ride in a car he was so good. He sat right next to me, with either his paws or his head in my lap the whole time. We got him to the office and they said they would clean him up and keep him overnight. All the while I was so excited that Matthew and I were going to have a dog to take with us when we get married and we even named him. Charlie. Well, this morning the vet called and said they had to put him to sleep because his wounds were much worse than they appeared. Apparently he had been mauled by a bigger animal. Needless to say, I cried again this morning.
That isn't exactly my point, though. I have NO pain tolerance whatsoever. Just ask Matt, I've cried over a (very serious and painful) splinter before. The whole time that I was sitting outside with Charlie, waiting to take him to the vet I was thinking about how crazy it was that he was hurt SO bad, yet he wasn't "complaining." I know that sounds dumb, talking about a dog but he wasn't whining or yelping. He didn't try to bite me when I looked at his wounds. He was trusting. He could tell that I loved him and wanted to take care of him for as long as he lived so even through his immense physical pain I'm sure he was enduring he never once lashed out. I certainly would have. It just reminds me of how God loves us so much more than I could ever even imagine loving anyone or anything. He wants so badly to take care of his wounded children in our times of darkness and pain. Do we walk around depressed, moaning, or complaining? Or do we trust the One who wants to care for us and go about our lives with a peaceful and happy accordance despite whatever circumstances we face?
Little Charlie was only apart of my life for one emotional night, but God used him to show me something that I'm to stubborn to put into practice without a little prompting. Do all things without arguing or complaining.
