Searched For and Found

When I was growing up we always had dogs. We didn’t buy them—they just wandered up to our house and never left, and they always fell easily into friendship with one another.

Now I have two dogs, Alice and Plum. Unlike the dogs from my childhood, these two don’t like each other even a little. They just tolerate each other. I think I understand why…

Alice is a sweet dog but she does some things we all find annoying. She eats dirt every chance she gets, she licks incessantly, she barks a lot, she tugs on the leash when she has an opinion, she digs so loudly in her kennel that it makes it hard to complete a thought. Plum on the other hand is just a sweet dog. That’s it. There’s no list of irritating things.

It’s easy, when you have a dog who does irritating things and another dog who doesn’t, to favor the dog who doesn’t. And if you do even accidentally favor that dog, you’ll find that the dog who does irritating things will dislike the dog who doesn’t. Then the dog who does irritating things will mistreat the dog who doesn’t, which adds to the list of irritating things. And just like that, you’ve got two dogs who don’t like each other one bit.

We all try not to favor Plum. We try really hard.

One day Plum met me at the door as I brought groceries into the kitchen from the garage. My husband helped me unload them onto the counter as Plum pranced happily around the room.

“Where did Alice go?” I said, looking for her. My husband didn’t know. I called her name a few times as we continued putting up the groceries.

“Where’s Alice?” My youngest daughter said as she came into the kitchen to help.

“That’s what I was just wondering,” I answered. “It’s not like her to stay away. I better go look for her.”

We all wandered around the house calling Alice’s name. Finally I found her curled up on the couch in the den looking sheepish. “There you are!” I said, walking up to her. She rolled on her back, blinked and smiled. She looked so happy!

“Here she is!” I called. My husband and daughter gathered around her and we all petted her.

Ever since that day, whenever anyone unloads groceries, Alice runs into the den, curls up on the couch, and looks sheepish. She had so much fun being missed, being searched for and found, that she wants to do it again and again. We go along with it too. We call out, “Where’s Alice? Where did Alice Go?” And we pretend to search for her until we find her. Then she rolls on her back, blinks, and smiles, and we give her lots of attention.

Sometimes dogs who do irritating things need to be reminded that they are loved. And they need to feel missed, searched for, and found. That’s true for people who do irritating things too. Some people make it easy to love them, but God says He loved us before we loved Him. He looked for us before we looked for Him. And He found us.

Blessings to you this week as you seek to love all who God puts in your path.