God speaks through puppies: Stop & smell the....weeds??

God speaks through puppies: Stop & smell the....weeds??: "I was inspired to write as I noticed Chloe's behaviour yesterday- during the rainy and gloomy weather - to today - where there's blue skies ..."

Stop & smell the....weeds??

I was inspired to write as I noticed Chloe's behaviour yesterday- during the rainy and gloomy weather - to today - where there's blue skies and it's nice and sunny. I know that she dislikes the rain and it being wet outside, and like most of us enjoys the sunshine. However, there was something very interesting in her behaviour yesterday, come to think of it, she's been doing the same thing during the snowy weather too!- I just hadn't paid attention to it earlier.

Every day, as soon as she's let outside (after ringing her bell to ask permission - yes, it works for those trying to figure out a way to train your pet), she stops and sniffs the air.

The fresh air that's filled with fragrances from flowers and plants (mostly the neighbours!), the dandelions in our garden (yes, we stink at gardening, and need to work on it), the aromas of food floating around, and probably little treasures of food or the perfect toy - dried leaves! She spends at least 10 or 15 minutes doing this before she heads down into the yard to do her 'business' or enter back into our home.

I know, she's a dog, dogs have a very keen sense of smell, so this seems like normal behaviour for her of course. But what I found interesting was that despite her preference to the sunshine, her reaction remained exactly the same in the gloomy weather yesterday and everyday for that matter. And I thought, wow! wouldn't it be great if we all were so grateful with the life that was given to us - I mean all of it - the rainy, snowy, sunny days and moments in our own lives?

There are ups and downs, but through the strength we have in Christ, we are able (should we choose to) to remain constant regardless of what is going on around us; to continue onwards with life rather than recoil in pain and isolate ourselves during difficult times, we are able to think of others and how they may be less fortunate and need help, even when we are going through hardships in our lives. As I ponder on this, I recall two movies that I've seen recently that further illustrate these points: Soul surfer & Flipped. I didn't even notice the recurring theme within all the above mentioned until now! Who says God doesn't speak?!

Let's challenge ourselves to be thankful, for every little thing especially when we don't understand things that are happening around us - For Thankfulness truly guards our heart from Bitterness.