Dear Little Sis,
I came up with a solution for our dog Karlie's incessant barking at the door when someone knocks I say ..."Time Out"! When I hear her barking ferociously, I point to her bed near the fireplace and say "time out". When it's time for her to get out of her Time Out, we say the word, "Free".
After a few weeks and much patience, we finally achieved this training feat. I proudly show off our dog to visitors, family and friends that she was laying in the corner of the house when they entered. When we were ready, I then released her with the command "free" and she comes over and greets our guests. Most everyone is really amazed that she is so well trained, but for me it was mostly a selfish desire to just have some peace and quiet in our home.
The other day I noticed that she was lying in this time out bed and I was happy that she was feeling comfortable with it. But I also noticed that she didn't look very happy. If I was heading outside to get the mail or another task, she would just lay there and look at me. So I would call her and tell her to come along. She jumped up and joyfully joined me.
The other day she again went to her time out bed and I heard her whining. I thought this was strange, and I wondered what was wrong. It then dawned on me...she went to lay down in the comfy bed but after a while she forgot she had put herself in Time Out and didn't know how to get out of it! She laid there miserably until I finally said the command "free". I released her from her self made prison. I laughed hilariously, but later I felt a little sad. All along she laid there, feeling constricted, imprisoned and condemned, but she had the power to leave the bed but didn't know it.
Thoughts crowded my mind as I thought of how much this was like us as Christians: imprisoned in our own self made "Time Out" bed. We may have originally gone there to find comfort but we found we couldn't get out by ourselves. We dwell in our anger, fear, or habits, and find ourselves imprisoned. We lay there in what was once a comfy bed until we realize we don't have the power on our own to get out... Who can release us? We see our Master and then realize, He has the power to get us out of our prison. We wait patiently for Him and then we hear the Master's voice, say "Free". Joyfully we jump out of our self-made confinement. John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed".
After hearing His voice, we realize we had His Power all along to leave our self-made prison and live in His Freedom.
I came up with a solution for our dog Karlie's incessant barking at the door when someone knocks I say ..."Time Out"! When I hear her barking ferociously, I point to her bed near the fireplace and say "time out". When it's time for her to get out of her Time Out, we say the word, "Free".
After a few weeks and much patience, we finally achieved this training feat. I proudly show off our dog to visitors, family and friends that she was laying in the corner of the house when they entered. When we were ready, I then released her with the command "free" and she comes over and greets our guests. Most everyone is really amazed that she is so well trained, but for me it was mostly a selfish desire to just have some peace and quiet in our home.
The other day I noticed that she was lying in this time out bed and I was happy that she was feeling comfortable with it. But I also noticed that she didn't look very happy. If I was heading outside to get the mail or another task, she would just lay there and look at me. So I would call her and tell her to come along. She jumped up and joyfully joined me.The other day she again went to her time out bed and I heard her whining. I thought this was strange, and I wondered what was wrong. It then dawned on me...she went to lay down in the comfy bed but after a while she forgot she had put herself in Time Out and didn't know how to get out of it! She laid there miserably until I finally said the command "free". I released her from her self made prison. I laughed hilariously, but later I felt a little sad. All along she laid there, feeling constricted, imprisoned and condemned, but she had the power to leave the bed but didn't know it.
Thoughts crowded my mind as I thought of how much this was like us as Christians: imprisoned in our own self made "Time Out" bed. We may have originally gone there to find comfort but we found we couldn't get out by ourselves. We dwell in our anger, fear, or habits, and find ourselves imprisoned. We lay there in what was once a comfy bed until we realize we don't have the power on our own to get out... Who can release us? We see our Master and then realize, He has the power to get us out of our prison. We wait patiently for Him and then we hear the Master's voice, say "Free". Joyfully we jump out of our self-made confinement. John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed".
After hearing His voice, we realize we had His Power all along to leave our self-made prison and live in His Freedom.
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