For more than year, I have been writing a series of devotionals for a book with the working title of Doggie Devotionals: Dog Is To Human As Human Is To God. The inspiration for this series of compositions came from the relationship I have with my long haired, copper colored dachshund, Sammy. Here is one of those essays with a title that is my favorite, “Mud and Manure.” 

Sammy, like every urban dog, needs time out of the house more than once during a 24-hour period. His needs are obvious: exercise, elimination opportunity, and fresh air. As a small hound, Sammy also needs time to smell things as simple as grass and fallen leaves, as provocative and complex as the garbage can, and—should a fellow dog pass by—as invigorating as another canine.

Sometimes, he is far more interested in sniffing than exercising. Lately, he not only sniffs another animal’s dung, but he begins to eat it!! “What? Sammy, put that down. What a dirty dog. Sam. Stop. Drop it.” Rather, he mouths the offensive offal and takes off toward home at a fast trot, head held high. Can he possibly be as proud of his catch as he looks? What is wrong with him?

Another day after rain, I skirt around some pudding-like mud puddles. When I look back for my little charge, I find him eating the mud. ”What? Sam, what are you doing now? Why are you eating mud? I fed you just a while ago. I’m not letting you kiss me with that mouth! What is wrong with you?”

Does God find my insistence on holding my sin as a prized possession as disgusting as I find Sammy’s dogged attempt to hold onto a mouthful of manure? Do I care what God thinks of my sin, or am I as ambivalent to it as Sam is to licking mud from the driveway?

Dear Abba God, Your Word tells me that you hate sin. Surely it disgusts and grieves You. May my sin disgust and grieve me as much as the sight of Sam eating manure and mud. May I drop it and go to You for washing as I wish Sam would do. And help me to see that I am as incapable of fulfilling this wish as Sammy is. Thank you, Abba, for making the wish come true in Your Beloved, Jesus.