More From Gary Mitchell

My wife and I don’t have children yet, so our “baby” is currently a 7-month-old Shi Tzu named Princess Petal. She teaches me things about the Lord every day through how trusting she is as I guide her through unknown territory during walks, and through how disgruntled yet instantly forgiving she is when I give her a bath and she comes right back to play 5 minutes later. Recently, following a minor surgery at the vet, we’ve had to force her to wear the “cone of shame,” the plastic circular dog collar that prevents her from licking or picking at her scar. She hates this collar. Every time we take it off to feed her, she begs with pleading eyes as we reattach it. The first night after her procedure was a long one, since she just didn’t know how to lay down or sleep while wearing it. To comfort her, my wife and I slept on the floor next to her, and because my wife sleeps like a dead rock I’m the one who spent the night up with the unhappy fuzzball. Throughout the dark hours, Princess Petal hammered me with those sad, suffering puppy eyes, as if she was saying, “Daddy, please! I hate this. It’s uncomfortable and miserable. Can’t you take it off? Can’t you DO something?” 
And all the while I thought, “Yes, I can do something. It is fully within my power to remove that awful thing that’s making you suffer. But even though I want to, I know it’s there for a reason. I know you don’t like it, but I need you to trust me. I promise, it’s for your own good. It’s helping you, even though it doesn’t seem like it. Be strong and do your best with it, and I’ll be right here the whole time.” Like I said, Princess Petal teaches me things about God all the time.  Here’s to puppy theology.

To learn more about Gary Mitchell, you can visit his website here: VisionRiseMusic.com