For many years, I grew vegetables in a garden in my backyard. Some years, I had a small garden; some years, I had a large garden. I've grown everything from okra to peppers to corn to squash to tomatoes. I even tried my hand at asparagus for a few years, but I failed miserably at growing my favorite of all veggies. Meghann, Matt and I loved the vegetables from the garden ... Meg loved to make BLTCC sandwiches (bacon, lettuce, tomato and cream cheese ... absolute deliciousness), and Matt loved to grill squash or okra (again, absolute deliciousness). Brad, on the other hand, is pretty much a meat and potatoes man. The few times I forced him to eat vegetables, he covered them with ranch dressing or honey ... seriously, that kid put honey on green beans. I suppose every family has to have one finicky eater in the bunch, huh?
I stopped planting a garden when all the kids moved out; it's less expensive and takes way less time to buy what vegetables I eat than to plant and water and cultivate them myself. There are times, however, when I miss walking into my garden, picking a ripe tomato from the vine, wiping it on my shirt and taking a bite of it outside under the hot sun. And there are also times when I miss seeing my big dog Julie do the same thing, minus the wiping it on the shirt part. That crazy dog would pick the ripest, prettiest, biggest tomatoes off the vine and eat them ... right in front of me with me yelling at her to stop. No matter how much I fussed at her, she would go straight for the tomatoes each time I let her outside. You see, finicky doesn't even begin to apply to Julie ... she will eat just about any food item that she can get her paws on or sink her teeth into, and she literally inhales her dog food at breakfast and dinner. Now, Ollie on the other hand ... Mr. Oliver is a whole different beast when it comes to food, especially dog food.
Before Ollie came to live with me and Julie, he lived in a home where he was almost starved to death. According to the folks who rescued him, he was so emaciated and thin that they were afraid to pick him up for fear that his bones might break. They had fattened him up considerably by the time I brought him home by feeding him biscuits and gravy each day for breakfast. Needless to say, he wasn't terribly excited those first few days at my house when I served him dry, crunchy dog food. It concerned me that he wasn't eating very well, so I began to mix a little chicken broth in with his dog food ... after all, he was in a new place with a new person and a new big dog following him around ... he simply needed some help in the area of food transitioning. And who in their right mind, human or canine, wouldn't prefer biscuits and gravy to ... well, just about anything really?
Those of you familiar with dachshunds know that they are an exceptionally stubborn breed of dog ... they are way too smart for their own good, and they dig their little paws in and refuse to budge if they don't want to do something. For the most part, Ollie eats his dog food, but their are times when he has to make sure I know that he doesn't really want the plain, dry, crunchy morsels. Those times, not only does he refuse to eat, he lays down in front of his bowl and gives me this, "Look how pitiful I am ... I'm really hungry, but you're making me eat this dry yucky stuff" look. And though I complain out loud about how he thinks he's special and that he needs to learn to be thankful for the dry food and gulp it down like Julie does ... those times when he won't eat, I end up sprinkling his food with some crushed-up Cheetos or shredded cheese and watch as he quickly gobbles up the suddenly much more appealing bites.
Yesterday was one of Ollie's more obstinate days, beginning with his refusal to step into the brown, crunchy grass to go potty, forcing me to pick him up and carry him out into yard. And I knew when I placed his bowl of food on the floor and he immediately laid down in front of it and looked up at me that he had no intention of eating the plain dog food. As I opened the refrigerator to grab the bag of cheese, a thought popped into my head. Tossing some cheese on top of Ollie's dog food, I said, "Ollie, buddy, sometimes we all need a little encouragement, don't we? Just like carrying you out to potty in the yard or putting cheese on your food ... sometimes we need to be encouraged to do the right thing."
I don't think I'll ever cease to be amazed at the huge life lessons God has chosen and continues to choose to teach me through my furry friends. Watching Ollie's tail wagging furiously as he chomped his food, tears pooled in my eyes as I thought about how many times God tries to feed me and I refuse to eat ... how many times He puts nourishment right in front of me ... how many times He urges me to eat from His overflowing bowl sprinkled with the encouragement of His grace, mercy and love.
Make me oh so hungry for You, Lord ... make me hungry for You.
No comments:
Post a Comment