“How Do You Greet Your Master?”
I still miss Sister. All 5 pounds of her have been gone for almost two years but she’s still missed. Only real dog lovers understand how you can miss the individual peculiarities of those special family members. If you’ve just had “dogs” you might not get it but if you’ve ever had a Sister you know what I mean. Her signature mark was that she could turn complete 360’s with her body multiple times in a row-I mean four to six at a time. She would do this when I first saw her each morning. She was crazy about me and she greeted me by spinning her little body around wildly in excitement. As she aged and her little knees became arthritic she flipped around with equal enthusiasm just less rotations. There is no way she could have been any more excited to greet me each morning. As her heart began to fail she couldn’t make even a 180 degree turn but her eyes never lost the excitement and thrill of meeting her master first thing in the morning. She was smarter than the average dog. Sister knew that I was going to turn on that coffee pot before feeding her so she sat on the kitchen floor waiting patiently for me to take that turn toward the hall where she knew her food was stored. While I filled up her little paw printed black and white ceramic bowl with tiny kibble she stared me down, every muscle of her body tensed with excitement. Now the show was about to start for me. As I stood up Sister would begin to turn 360’s as she ran down the hall, with me following behind with her food. As I placed it before her she always acted as if she had never seen food before. Enthusiasm doesn’t even describe was she was for her morning meal. Whatever I gave her she would eat it and be as happy as she could possibly be. This same routine happened again each morning and evening over and over and over for eleven years. If I left the house for a few hours or went to work for the day she would greet me with the enthusiastic 360’s. I never tired of her showing how excited she was to see me. Even when I wasn’t giving her something she was equally happy to see me. I would imagine that you caught on to the spiritual analogy, the pet parable so to speak, the moment I used the word master. Am I that excited to meet my Master each morning? Am I that thankful for His provisions day after day after day? Am I that excited even when He’s not “giving” me what I want? My praise to Him first thing in the morning and quite frankly all day long is put to shame by a 5 pound Boston Terrier. Listen to Zephaniah 3:17, “ The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy.He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” This speaks of how excited He is to be with us. At a concert I once heard the talented musician Dennis Jernigan speak of this verse. He said that while we are sleeping at night that the LORD dances wildly over us just waiting for us to wake in the morning and have communion with him. We are suppose to have Sister 360 enthusiasm and all too often I fear so many believers slap off the alarm and bemoan the dawning of His new day. If we really realized the raw power of praise, the penetrating power of getting in and staying in His presence I know we’d dance around like Sister spiritually and yes even physically. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it means to really praise Him but I’ll tell you that praise is life-changing because it puts you into His presence and that is where you are changed. Psalm 22:3 says that “God inhabits the praises of His people.” Have His children in today’s busy world forgotten this? Our spirits will literally soar with His Holy Spirit when we learn the lifestyle of praise. You are refreshed, you are healed, you are delivered, you are recharged, you fall in love with Him more and more…praise is the warfare…praise literally silences and drives the enemy out. Demons have to flee in the light of praise to our LORD. A friend recently told me that real worship is really “warship.” As we begin our day let us remember that it is a war out there. The enemy is prowling around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) so we better have our armor on (Ephesians 6:10-19) and be “praised up” and ready. Your Master is waiting to meet you in the morning, ready to give you everything you need to survive the day and oh so much more. I’m learning to turn 360’s. How about you?
Ann Allen Salter
July 30, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Well....This is my second semester of Balanced Life. I keep hearing you say swing the door wide open and let God in, early in the morning. Well I think I thought I did this. However, I think I may have opened it, but always kept my hand on the door knob. I mean really. I have to be ready to close the door when I need to. Ok, maybe I just cracked it. Either way....Here is what I learned.
As long as I am feeding on the word I find I swing the door open wider. Some days I think I actually let go of the door knob. However, if I forget to eat I may even forget the door all together and never even think about opening it.
So last night was awesome, because I realized I am growing. It may not seem like it, but I am. I just have to keep working. I have to say though it is amazing. Sometimes I think Ann must have been watching me secretly, because I so do some of the things she talked about.
Post a Comment