Lessons I've Learned From my Puppy, Who is Not a Puppy....but I call her that because she is little, though she is not as little as she should be, because....nevermind...

Ha, have no fear...just because the title of this post took about two minutes to read, this post is not going to be super long, I promise!
(You'll see in a minute that this post was started a while ago, sadly I didn't check the old date before I started adding more to it now.  I started it back when mom was alive, obviously... it was special to read what I wrote and I didn't want to change anything, although some of this is old.  But I just had another thing that hit me today about my little girl and remembered this post so I thought I would add to it... and maybe finally finish it.) :)
(Not sure of this start date) But just really quickly...she's not as small as she should be, she's a 15 pound Maltese!  We're working on it, well, at least one of us (me) is trying.  Bella and mom are a dynamic duo, working against me and not helping out at all...ah well.
Now to the real part of the post!
Just a few things that I learned from my sweet-ish little girl. :0)
Early each morning I go into mom's room to wake up mom and Bella.  Bella scrambles over pillows, covers, and even mom to get to me!  She is so excited to see me!  What a sweet morning welcome.  Sometimes, I can't even get to my mom to give her a kiss good morning because Bella has claimed her space and time with me.  I pick her up off the bed, pet her, talk to her, get kisses and love from her, before she is ready to get down and head outside.
Do I get excited and really look forward to spending time with the Lord in the morning?  Do I do what I can to make sure nothing gets in the way of my spending some time with him?  Do I treasure those moments?
Bella loves to go out and gets very excited.  I always take her out on a leash, because I'm just not sure if I can fully trust her without it.  Many times she is just chill and lays in the grass.  Many times she goes right to the very edge of the driveway and sits and looks to see what is going on.  She is usually OK sitting there.... until the temptation of a loud car or truck comes rumbling by, or that speedy bike dares to fly by, or some random "evil" person dares to walk by our house.  Then she is no longer that sweet little girl, she has become a totally different dog that I need to reign in.  How many times do I pull away from God?  How often do I get too close to the things that will tempt me?  How often do I displease Him by my actions and attitudes toward those temptations?
One other thing I noticed about Bella is that she will go as far away from me as possible...the very end of her leash...to make her messes.  Isn't that what we often do?  We get far away from the Lord and make messes when we are far away.  I'm so thankful that the Lord is so gracious when we do make those messes. (2/9/13)  He gently and lovingly cleans them up for us.  When Bella does make her messes she doesn't dwell there, maybe a second or two, but then she is on her way to other things.  Do I just constantly dwell on my messes?  Do I see them for what they are, try to correct them and go on with the other things I need to or should do?  Or do I just keep coming back to them and let them affect me?  God cleaned them up and they are no longer a thought to Him, so it should be the same for me.

Well, today, Saturday, February 9, 2013, we woke up to the aftermath of the blizzard with two names.  Channel 3, WFSB has been naming snowstorms for years and had named this storm Charlotte.  The weather center decided recently I guess to start naming it's snowstorms, too, so they named it Nemo.  So Blizzard Charlotte or Nemo came and left lots of snow for us...26 inches!  I woke up and had to take Bella out, she usually doesn't mind snow, but when she looked out and saw it right up to the door and higher she didn't want to go out.  So, I did what I have done before when the snow is too high for her, I got in front of her and started to make a path with my feet.  Then she felt comfortable enough to come out and down the stairs to the driveway.  She couldn't journey through it and wouldn't even attempt to until I had a slight path for her.  Even if the path was a little rough for her, she would still try to keep trudging along.  As I was sharing that with a friend on Facebook, I thought about what a great picture that is.  Christ has laid out a path for us, it may not always look the way we like, it may be a little scary to follow, and it may look rough sometimes, but He would never lead us someplace where He couldn't take care of us.  Do I trust Him like I should...like Bella trusted me this morning?  Do I feel confident in following the path He has for me?  Am I willing to keep on that path even though at times it may seem rough?  He knows where I need to be, where I should go, and how to get there, I just need to trust and follow Him.
Lord, thank you for my precious pup and all that she means to me, especially now!  Thank you for the lessons that I can learn from her.  Thank you for showing me things through her, that you want me to remember.  Help me to keep these lessons learned close to my heart!