In the last post I introduced you to my dog Jackson, a most fearful and skittish canine.  Chalk some of this up to his pedigree, dubious as it seemed to be, since he was part Dalmatian.  The rest of his jumpiness seemed to be related to a traumatic history that apparently involved brooms and other weapons. 

Every time I would pick up a broom, a mop, or a snow shovel (I live in the frozen wasteland of NW Minnesota), he would run away and hide in the closet.  I never harmed him with any objects, but twice he bumped into tools and knocked them over which ramped up his fear for months afterward.

Robert Service wrote a poem about such dogs, entitled, “Mongrel.”  The last stanzas are appropriate to Jackson: “And now he is a household fixture And never wants to leave my side; A doggy dog, a mongrel mixture, I couldn’t lose him if I tried. His tail undocked is one wild wiggle, His heaven is my happy nod; His life is one ecstatic wriggle, And I’m his God.”

How did Jackson deal with His fears?  Like the mongrel in the poem, “he never want(ed) to leave my side.”  When I would sit, he tried to become my lap dog – all 70 pounds of him.  My stretching routine on the floor became a wrestling match as he tried to lay in my lap while I stretched.  I could not take a nap unless I laid on the floor so he could lay against me.  I dared not let him upstairs at night lest he would take over the bed!

A friend of mine was asking about Jackson one day, as Jackson was trying to crawl into his lap.  We talked about how Jackson in his near desperate efforts to be always close to me was a great example of how we are to pursue the nearness of our God.  Psalm 91, a psalm of Moses, paints a picture of this nearness to our God to which we all must attain. 

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!”   For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark” (91:1-4).

Jackson was always “dwelling in the shelter” and “abiding in the shadow” of his master.  He continually looked to me as his refuge. As Moses with his God in 91:9, Jackson made me his refuge and his dwelling place. 

The words of Moses are interesting because to abide in the shadow of another, one must be as close as possible, nearly underfoot.  Jackson was good at being underfoot.  Our God desires that we be good at being “underfoot” as well.  He desires for our nearness and seeks our intimacy with Himself. He is pleased with our dependence upon Him.  Such deep and intimate communion is that for which we were created as a people, and it is here that we find our deepest fears assuaged and our deepest needs met.

Images via author, Southern California, and Northern Idaho