Dog Gone Faith

Wednesday morning seemed to be the same routine fixing breakfast and lunches, loading up the car and dropping off the kids to school, until I made a sharp left turn and the hummer nearly missed a small dog. Kailey my oldest daughter, was passing me and screamed, "Mom, you hit that dog!" I jumped out and approached him as he lifted his tired body and began to wag his little tail. He was filthy, hungry and thirsty, but before I took him home- I went to the vet, where he was scanned for a chip. The owner never registered him, and the stray was shooed from the office. Home we went and after he was bathed, fed and quenched, the signs were posted and the neighbors contacted to no avail. He was a grateful little guy, sweet and well trained. Thursday my mom came down to watch Conners baseball game and she brought her shitzu Saddie. At the baseball field a neighbor of a player Kim came to watch the game, she saw Sadie and said that her dog had just passed away. We quickly told her about the stray, hoping she would be interested, but she said she thought she knew someone who was looking for the "right dog." Friday morning, the little guy welcomes us as we walk down stairs, sweet, happy and grateful. I go through the same school day routine, but with a twist of heading to the beach for a hike with Shagay and her friends. After we greeted each other, I decide to give the pooch promotion to Shagay, She's always polite and listens with a smile, but I can tell that there is NO interest! I never noticed her friend Sabrina listening, who puts 2 and 2 together.... The gal Kim at the park had called Sabrina last night and told her about the stray. As we walk Sabrina confidently says, "That's my dog", she had been telling her 2 little girls that a perfect dog was going to come to them. Do you speak favor into your life? When you do, great miracles happen, and isn't it nice that even strangers can be touched by beautiful blessings of belief.

“Change the Channel”

“I was hurt, angry, and I felt like a victim because I couldn’t take action. I had to kiss what I thought was mine- goodbye. I had to walk away, I was completely discouraged, blaming myself, filled with disappointment, unable to put closure to it. Everyone around me sympathized and told me I had a right to feel I had been wronged. My friends fumed, and that wasn’t making it any better.

My mother, however, knew when it was time to move on. Over dinner one night, as I was replaying my sad story for a hundredth time – should have, could have, if only I had- she decided to help me break the pattern, “Darling,” she said, “Change the Channel.” That was her famous expression, used whenever someone seemed anxious, fearful, agitated, or blue for too long.

“What should I change it to?” I asked.

“Anything,” she said. “The Gratitude Channel, Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, try the Inspiration Channel! You’ve been switching between the Disappointment Channel and the Blame Yourself Channel for too long.”



We don’t have to be at the mercy of our habitual thinking: we are the ones holding the clicker. So decide to change your channel! You can move on, start all over again with a newfound enthusiasm!

- Unbinding the Heart, by Agapi Stassinopoulos

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."  - Lewis B. Smedes