Yesterday about did me in.
It was a culmination of considerably terrible events including a
dog-related emergency, a health insurance debacle, three very smelly poopy
diapers, and a missing bank card.
It really all started last Thursday when I went to feed our
two dogs. (Since I’m new here, here’s
the quick debrief on our two furry friends: We have Jeffery, our black
lab/mastiff mix {read: seriously huge, geriatric
dog who is about seventy-two in dog years}
and Noelle, a beautiful silver lab who we’ve had for the past four years.) Noelle is rambunctious, high-spirited,
bouncy, and enthusiastically animated.
So when I went to feed her and Jeffery last Thursday and she didn’t eat,
I got a little worried. All weekend was
kind of back and forth…she was ok, then she wasn’t ok, and then back to ok
again. By Sunday night, though, she
wasn’t eating again. Which brings us to
yesterday morning. Adam took her to the
vet. A very long and very dramatic story
ensued –most of which I will spare you the details. Here are the important parts: Noelle
apparently ate some of her bedding, resulting in an intestinal obstruction
which required an estimated $1,600 dollar surgery.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
SIXTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS...on a dog…during December, of all
months…sixty days before I deliver a baby…oh, and, yeah, we still have to eat
during that time. Right……
When we had to make the call on whether to proceed with the
surgery, the vet seemed confident that something else, besides a blocked-up gut—again,
FROM EATING A LARGE AMOUNT OF FABRIC—might be going on. But nope.
Three hours after they started the surgery Dr. Henderson (or Hudson or
whatever his name is) called to say it was just a long piece of her bedding
[***insert livid eye-roll here***]. LONG
PIECE OF HER BEDDING?!?! AWESOME!
My dog ate a long piece of her bedding that cost us SIXTEEN HUNDRED
DOLLARS!?!?
Just take a moment and let
that sink in.
For that price, I could have purchased an obscene amount of
dog beds or just a whole other dog.
Later, back in reality…while Noelle was in surgery, I had to fight with the health insurance customer service people (who, in their defense,
work for a horrible industry); changed no less than three very poopy diapers; and
had to call our bank on cards that were mailed to us but never received. Sawyer did well except for his one massive
tantrum – I wouldn’t let him eat out of the trash can. He was so disappointed with my decision that
he threw a fifteen minute fit.
Sobbing. Boogers. Gnashing of teeth {read: gnashing of four little teeth, because that’s all he has}. So, yeah, essentially the morning was a
wash. By the time we got the call that
Noelle was out of surgery, I was ready to have a fit of my own. I’m blaming it on the fact that we were
freshly out of chocolate, but it could
have been the hormones racing through me.
After a few minutes of trying to pull myself together, Sawyer looked at
me, crawled into my lap, and offered me his paci. AHHH!
Then I was reminded.
When I finally did my devotional around 10pm (far later than I should
have), the scripture reading was this: Matthew 6: 24-34 (NASB)
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and
wealth. For this reason I say to you, do
not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink;
nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do no
sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And
who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in
all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much
more clothe you? You of little
faith! Do not worry then, saying ‘What
will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For
the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things. But seek
first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to
you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for
tomorrow will care for itself. Each day
has enough trouble of its own.
It’s so easy to lose sight of the sovereignty of our Lord. It’s easy to get tangled up in the daily
affairs of the household; wrought with worry and anxiety over each detail. It’s easy.
“You of little faith!” What an aptly posed rebuke. I worry -- I try to control the outcome of
things when I really have no bearing on the situation. When I do this, I take personal responsibility
for the outcome and deny God’s sovereignty over everything in this life. What if I started approaching these “worrisome”
things with an attitude of faith and thankfulness to our Lord instead of fretting? Agonizing to the point that my toddler offers
me his paci? What a difference that
would make. In the light of recent
events, my prayer tonight is that my faith be refined and that I would be a
faithful servant of Him who reigns over everything—from the smallest detail to
the greatest.
Blessings to you on this December evening.
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