Like a dog with a bone

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!  Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.  The Lord is near.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:4-8

It's amazing how often I can take a blessing and - due to my anxious heart - turn it into a curse.  I become so obsessed with the need to protect it, hide it from harm, and guard it from being taken away that I end up finding little to no joy in the blessing whatsoever.  My need to control things turns the blessing into a curse.  I end up wishing I never had the blessing at all because the thought of losing it hurts too badly.

Do you find yourself doing the same thing?  What if you and I changed the way we approach God's blessings this Thanksgiving season?  Maybe approach them less like a dog with a bone?

My angel of a maltese, Bailey, (seriously, I feel like God dropped her into my life straight from a cloud in heaven) brought this spiritual point to my mind today.  I was all excited getting back from the grocery store because I had bought her brand new bone stick thingies that I had a feeling she would absolutely love.  I opened the package and she abruptly took it from my hand, ran to the living room and left me in the kitchen.  I smiled thinking about how happy her little heart must be to get a new bone she had never chewed before.  I pictured her cuddled in her doggie bed enjoying the taste of the raw bone.

As I peaked around the corner to catch a glimpse of her bliss, I saw she was not enjoying the bone at all.  She was frantically digging in her blankets trying to bury the thing!  I called her name in annoyance, "Bailey, stop it!  Just chew it!"  She stopped and starred at me in anguish.  I rolled my eyes and went back to the kitchen hoping she would settle down and enjoy the not-so-cheap dog bone.

A few minutes passed and she started pacing the kitchen trying to find a place to bury her gift.  I gave up.  I took the bone from her and said, "Forget it!"  I knew she would not sit down and just chew it, so I had to take it away or she would spend the rest of the day whimpering around the house with the stupid thing in her mouth.

As I took it from her with a grumble, I realized how often I am just like my little fluffy buddy.  God gives me a beautiful gift and instead of thanking Him for it in humility and enjoying it in gratitude, I start putting all my energy into hoping He won't take it back.  But God does not want us to approach His gifts that way.  He wants us to enjoy them for as long as they are in our lives, to let go of the need to control their outcome, and to stop being anxious over their possible loss.  He is honored and blessed when we handle our blessings with the proper perspective.  I think the problem is that we begin to find our identity in the blessings themselves, instead of in the one thing that was given and can never be taken from us - our salvation in Jesus Christ.  If we change our approach to the blessings He gives us, then they can come and go throughout the seasons of our life and we will stand unshaken and grateful.

Let's thank Him together this weekend for His many blessings!