Hope Springs Eternal

Hope springs eternal in a young pup's heart or so it has been said. This saying is one I've heard my entire life. When times get hard and I wanted to give up because I just couldn't quite figure out what was frustrating me . . . I'd hear my daddy say "hope springs eternal . . . ." I never really understood what he meant until . . .

Honey Girl was golden, velvet fur in motion. She was always moving. She only settled if she was sitting beside you being petted--and even then a tail wagged or a paw twitched. She hated being left alone in her dog run, but her purpose was to protect the family.

Her dog run was a large pen, about 20 x 20 in the shade of a huge oak tree. She was near the house, but could still see all around the property. She had a big dog house, toys galore, but she still hated being left inside the fence. She loved to escape.

To the great chagrin of her family, she would dig out under the fence. Staking the fence down didn't work, so they buried the wire and place big rocks around the parameter. She loved the challenge. When that finally thwarted her escape plans, she found a new way out--climbing the hog wire over the top. When barb wire appeared at the top of the wire, she would drag her dog house near the fence and use it as a spring board to leap the fence. She was very creative. She always had hope that she could outwit the fence keeping her in.

She and her family moved. Her new home had a small side yard surrounded by a 6 ft. tall privacy fence which became her space. She loved having direct access to the house to be with her people--especially on those cold winter nights in the mountains.

One night, her people sat a bicycle which has been sharing her yard on the other side of the fence. During the night, someone tried to take the bicycle from the yard. Knowing her responsibility of protecting the family, she eyed the tall fence and with hope in her heart took a huge leap and ran the intruder off the property. Her people were so proud of her for protecting them and chasing off the would-be thief. They brought her into the house, rewarded her, and eventually put her back in her side yard.

She heard something else in the front yard--the neighbor's dog was invading family space, so she leaped the fence again and ran off the intruder. However, this time when her dad came to bring her back inside, he wasn't as happy. He must be having trouble sleeping or something since he wasn't usually grumpy.

The next night she leaped the fence to chase off . . . well maybe to patrol would be a better way of phrasing it. Not wanting to wake her people she simple jumped the fence again when she was ready to go back to the side yard. This was quite convenient and she enjoyed her forays into the world outside her yard. Her people however were acting a bit grumpy and quite unlike themselves--yelling at her; telling her to "stay."

There was a section of her yard that had chicken wire walls and a top. She had her straw dog house inside it and loved all the smells of the chicken coop, but it was only a part of her yard. The night after she had leaped the fence and gone to her parents' bedroom window to tell them she wanted inside her dad gave her a special treat of pigs' ears inside the coop at bed time. When she finished chewing them, she decided to stroll about the property. Wait . . . the door to the coop was gone.

She paced the length of the coop. The door had to be there. It was supposed to be right there . . . it was always open. But this time . . . it was closed! How could she do her job if she couldn't leap the fence? There was wire beside her and above her with solid wood fencing on the other sides. She was effectively trapped. Howling for her parents to come free her, dad soon appeared and told her she had to stay in for the night and to be quiet.

Despair filled her heart. She loved her late night walks . . . patrolling her property . . . and snuggling with mom and dad when they let her in when she looked in their window--tapping a message of love with her paws. She refused to be defeated by chicken wire!

Hope springs eternal . . . come on paws--let's dig!

God, we so often find ourselves in a mess of our own making. We fight against the protective guidelines. We want our own way without considering the consequences. Help us to find the balance your love and guidance brings into our lives. Help us to trust you so that we don't dig our way out of your provision into our desperation. Rather than continuing to hope for our own way, help us to learn that the very breath you give us IS hope. "Dum spiro, spero". . . while I breathe, I hope. God, you give me breath, and hope. So be it. Amen.