Taking Stock

Have you ever become a slave to something you’ve allowed into your own life?

I would love to say “Asking for a friend” but that would be a total lie. 

We currently have two puppies. 

I know- I am soft. I love my children and gave in to their beautiful pleading eyes. (And I really do love animals and am a sucker for a sob story.) 



But now I am a slave. I mean, these dogs can’t do ANYTHING by themselves. They can’t let themselves out the sliding back door in the morning to go potty, they can’t open their food container and scoop food into their bowls, they can’t give themselves water, they certainly don’t clean up after themselves (poop baggies, anyone?), and many times they don’t even entertain themselves. 



They’re like toddlers. When I go in the bathroom or the bedroom and close the door, it isn’t two minutes before they’ve found me and start whining and scratching at the door like I’ve left them forever, and they’re about to die.


Yes, good times around here, indeed. 



But right now one of them away for two weeks and will come back a WonderDog- trained in all the things. And my life will be so much easier. Because we’ve taught them to sit, but beyond that nothing else has been very successful. 

This made me think: what else have I allowed into my life that I am now a slave to?



Sometimes it’s physical things like dogs, or cars, or flooring that requires special care. Other times it’s a cause that is time-consuming, or a person who is draining us, or a job that promised one thing but has slowly become a totally different life-consuming thing.



And sometimes it’s frivolous things that serve no purpose at all, other than to entertain us, and keep us from that which is truly important. Because sometimes all the other stuff is hard. 



We have to be careful with our time. We are only given 24 hours in a day. And we are in control (most of the time) of what those hours are consumed by. It’s hard sometimes to get things under control that we have let go unchecked. It’s hard to rein in a ‘puppy’ in our lives that only knows how to ‘sit’ for short periods of time before consuming us again. 



If you haven’t taken stock lately of where your time is going, I would encourage you to do so. No one knows the time they have left on this earth. Seek things that matter. Spend time getting to know Jesus. Make sure the people you love know you love them. There can be no greater investment of time than a life lived seeking Jesus, and loving others in His name. 

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. 



Psalm 39:4-5 Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (5) Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mind age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.



Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.