The War

I have a war going on at my house. The lines have been drawn and there is no turning back. On one side we have Charlie, my 120 pound sheep dog. She is the most laid back dog you can imagine. She loves every animal she has ever met including my house bunny. She is so gentle that I could leave her with Grandma and not worry about her knocking into her or knocking her down. I think she has a secret dream of becoming a house dog and a couch potato. I discourage the couch part and she gets to spend the night in the house.

The opposing side of this war is the raccoons. Charlie seems to think that in a perfect world there would be no raccoons anywhere. I first got wind of this war about 2:00 one morning. All of a sudden I had a snarling mass of fangs and bristling hair in the middle of my bed, She was lunging at the window and sounded like she was going to rip something apart. All I could think of was, “if that is a burglar trying to get in, she is going to kill him.” I finally got the courage to get out of bed and turn on the outside light to discover … yep, a family of raccoons on the deck. I chased the raccoons off … well at least out of sight and Charlie laid there on the bed and growled for two hours. I was stunned. I had never even heard her growl before.

Since that first night, I have watched her tree the raccoons, lunge frantically at the door, and do everything in her power to remove this evil threat to her family. She is sure that raccoons are an evil menace and nothing I do is going to change her opinion. In her little doggy mind they are the ENEMY.

It got me thinking about the enemies in my life. I think there have been times when I have identified people as my enemy for as little reason as Charlie has with the raccoons. But the reality is that “I have seen the enemy and it is me.” I know that I have a tendency to be my own worst enemy. I have unrealistic expectations and demands for myself that I would never put on other people. I think I would like to end the war and learn to be a friend instead. I think it is time to stop blaming myself for the losses in my life. I think that there are wonderful things ahead. It is time for a cease fire.

“being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” Romans 4:21

Just Connie