Nothing Is Perfect and Baby Gates

I have a dog that I inherited from my STBX, a miniature pincher named Spike. He's probably one of the closest to perfect dogs I have ever owned. He doesn't bark incessantly. He listens to me and does what I ask him to. He's a really cool dog, but.... he's not perfect. For whatever reason, if my daughter leaves her jeans in a pile or her grey sweat pants on the floor in her room, Spike will undoubtedly go in there and pee on them. He doesn't do this in my room if I leave something on the floor or in any other room either, only in hers. Well, he's shown that this is his method of operation, so he's no longer given the opportunity to do that as we bought a baby gate and he can no longer enter her room. We've given him back the opportunity to be an almost perfect dog.

I was thinking about how lucky Spike is. My daughter and I are giving him a prime opportunity to shine but keeping him away from being able to do the one thing that really makes her want to kill him and that puts him in the category of just being another dumb dog. Did you know that we are lucky as well? I was reading the book of Jude on my bus ride to work this morning and came across Jude 24 "To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy". Wow! My take on this is that God has put baby gates in our lives as well.

God's baby gates in my life of late have consisted of the Holy Spirit sending whispered reminders of who loves me. Of blessings being pointed out to me even if I am in the midst of not being able to see beyond the immediate hardship in front of me. Of reminders of how hard I have worked to stay out of the insanity of doing the same things hoping for different results, pointing me in different directions seeking the best life has to offer. Of reminders of how happy I am that we are to walk by faith and not by how we feel. Of reminders that Spike is not perfect, I'm not perfect, that really, nothing is perfect except for the Lord of all Creation who was and is and is to come.

Today I ask you to join me in praise for baby gates. That they are placed in life to protect us and to let us shine in the areas that we shine in.

Hallelujah!