Success Lessons Learned from a Stubborn Puppy

This past week I’ve been puppy-sitting for my sister while her family is on vacation.  Her little dog is such a cutie, but boy, is she an ornery little sucker!  She’s extremely curious and a bit defiant.  I found that often when I tried to warn her about “impending danger” she just completely ignored me and lunged right into it anyway!  So needless to say, I was constantly bailing her out of messes…such as getting stuck in a tomato cage in my garden after being warned not to enter it, getting a bee sting on her mouth after she decided to chase after a bee and eat it (again after being warned not too), and getting several good “scoldings” from Cinders, my dog, when she would nip at Cinders’ ears (just to name a few of her predicaments).

I decided that we must seem a lot like that puppy to God.  We are so curious to try things out or chase interesting things, we are often a bit defiant, and we think we know better about what will make us happy or successful.  God has given us several warnings and instructions both through His word and through other people who are either wiser or more experienced.  I think He even tries to step in to rescue us sometimes, but we tend to lunge in the opposite direction straight into the harm or hurt that He’s trying to keep us from.  We are often very stubborn ourselves!

I’m not sure if the puppy knew that I wasn’t trying to keep her from having fun but just to keep her from some trouble or harm.  I wonder if we occasionally don’t realize that same thing about God.  He’s not trying to keep us from having fun.  He’s trying to direct us TO success not away from it.  King Solomon with all his wisdom came to understand this toward the end of his life and writes about a lot of our empty and unproductive searching for happiness and success throughout the book of Ecclesiastes (a great book for a study on “happiness” by the way).  He teaches quite a bit about happiness, health and prosperity both in Ecclesiastes and in Proverbs.  Solomon tries to impart where true success will originate.  I believe that he tries to convey the message that apart from God, our creator, there is no true, lasting happiness.

Here are the Success Lessons Learned from a Stubborn Puppy:

• WE are a lot LIKE stubborn puppies…curious, evasive, defiant, know-it-alls.
• God has given us instruction–it’s there for the taking, even if we often ignore it.
• God is not trying to keep us FROM fun, happiness, and success but instead tries to direct us TO it.
• We need to listen to and learn from others who are wise, have gone before us and are trying to help us.  We may not always see the “impending dangers” ahead!

Have you learned any success lessons from a stubborn pet? 🙂 Leave a comment below…

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