We had a thunderstorm the other day. I personally love them. The light show and the reverberations are like heaven’s own rock concert. The feel of being surrounded by water but still being able to breathe reminds me of the ocean of grace I am forever lost in. It’s a special place God gave me a vision of years ago. And when I feel like I am drowning in the busyness of life, He reminds me of where I should be. Breathing in the deep waters of His grace.
My little Lillie Mae (the family Shih Tzu) does not feel the same way. She shivers and shakes and climbs all over the nearest human who will comfort her. She’s 14 years old and she has reacted the same way to every thunderstorm since we got her as a puppy.
My dad, always making the most astute observations, made a comment that stuck with me for a while. “You’d think she’d learn that she has survived every one of those storms.”
Part of me has always loved her reaction to the storm because while she is a sweet baby girl, she does get tired of all the pets after a while. But when there is a thunderstorm you can hold her and love on her and she won’t let go for a long time. But the other part of me has always hated that she was so scared.
Don’t laugh at me (well, alright you can), but God speaks to me so much through my animals. And I feel like when my dad said that it was like God the Father was telling me, “You’ve survived every storm so far, this one will be no different.” I often spiritually like Lillie Mae does. When things begin to get crazy and all the things seem to be happening and changing. I run as fast as I can and spend all the time clinging and shaking.
And I think God must feel a lot like I do, appreciative of all the love and cuddles, but sad that I am that scared when I am safe in His arms.
Lillie is always excited to see us when we walk in the door. And always the first one to climb in bed with the first human to lay down and the last one to crawl out of bed when the last person gets up. She will be the first in the kitchen when she hears someone popping popcorn or opening her cookie jar (or anytime someone is in the kitchen really). But she only gets desperate when it involves thunderstorms.
I want to be desperate for Him even when I’m not scared or making huge life decisions. I don’t want to walk away from cuddles and pets as I am sometimes apt to do when life gets “busy.” I want to be the shih tzu that gets put in God’s purse and carted around everywhere to hug and kiss all we come across. Even when it’s storming.
