I have learned many lessons from our newest puppy. One of the latest lessons is not falling for
the decoys.
Let me explain.
Gabriel, our newest puppy, likes to get into EVERYTHING! All things are his toys. Just ask him!
He is so excited to get into anything.
Shoes. When he was a little puppy, Gabriel would ‘borrow’
a lone shoe and take it around the house for a ‘walk’. We would spend extra time getting ready as we
played hide and seek with all of our shoes…daily.
Papers in the garbage.
We are forced to always keep the waste basket at ¾ full. Any papers left in the view of his peering
eyes are subject to Gabriel fun.
He LOVES to shred papers.
Toilet paper on the roll.
He walks into the bathroom, pulls the roll quietly and walks into the
other room as it follows him along. It
is almost humorous… almost.
Rocks and leaves. He brings them in from the outside and hides
them around the house to play with them later. We are the lucky ones to find
them for him, like Legos.
And the latest is the shower squeegee. Yes, even the squeegee
doesn’t even stand a chance.
Gabriel sneaks into the shower and grabs the squeegee like a
ninja puppy. Then he heads into the
bedroom to snack on the long rubber edge that cleans the shower door. I realized which side he was snacking on when
I tried to clean the shower door and streaked the door like a bad window
washer.
SQEEEEEEEEKKKKK! Ew.
So, we decided to double down and beat Gabriel at his game. We purchased a second squeegee that we could hang up in the shower. We kept the old one in the same place on the floor next to the door. This way, he was a happy puppy, and we had a clean shower door.
However, old habits die hard. Let me explain. I would finish my shower and grab the old squeegee
on the floor by habit and suddenly realize it was the wrong one when I saw the
streaks in the door.
SQEEEEEEEEKKKKK! Ew.
OOPS…I grabbed the decoy.
Finally, I would grab the new one hanging on the wall and
clean up my mess and laugh. I fell for
the decoy…
How many times do we do the same thing?
Not pay attention to things around us and kick
into automatic mode and grab the ‘old squeegee’ or things that are not
helpful in our lives?
I get caught up in the daily grind and forget to grab my
bible or pray when I am stressed sometimes.
Instead, I grab the remote or I vent to the wrong person.
Decoy squeegee.
Instead of calling a sister to pray for me, I close the door
and get inside my own head.
Decoy squeegee.
Instead of taking a drive when I am stressed, I open the
fridge and grab that snack that is not healthy for me.
Decoy squeegee.
I do it all the time.
But you know what? We have an AWESOME
God who reminds me daily that I can start over again. Even when I grab the wrong squeegee
daily. He quietly reminds me. I then repent and turn back to Him.
What Grace I experienced then! What Joy I experienced then!
Today is a new day.
2025 is a new year.
Don’t get caught up in all the old squeegees.
Don’t get caught up in unforgiveness. Especially unforgiving yourself. Forgive, move on. God did.
You need to also.
Let’s tackle 2025 together! New squeegees!
Love you guys!
