Random Thoughts About Little Things

We had to bring my dog to the vet on Friday to have her anal glands removed. She has allergies, and they get inflamed, and it makes her rub her hind end on the carpet. There's a HUGE story I could tell about the multiple screw-ups the vet's office made, but....well, it's too long a story.

Anyway, my dog's stitches came out, and she now has open wounds on her behind, she's constantly bleeding, and suffering. As my wife told the vet on the phone this morning, it looks like someone took a chainsaw to her behind. So we have to bring her in for another traumatic experience and more pain to fix what is increasing apparently a botched procedure. Yes, we'll be finding another vet after this experience. It really breaks my heart to see her suffer and go through the added fear of another trip to the vet. If you're not an "animal person", you may not understand all this, but the pooch really means a lot to us.

I was praying for her this morning, begging God to comfort her, heal her, and ease her pain. It occurred to me that as we get older, we don't ask our friends or church family to pray for "little things" with us as much. I remember working with kids in church, getting all kinds of prayer requests...from sick pets to scratched knees. I'm wondering what makes us stop asking friends to pray over certain things.

Is it a symptom of a loss of innocence?

Is it our increasing self-reliance? Do we now only want to "trouble" our Father with the things we can't handle ourselves? Has He become our "Second tier" of support, and only escalated matters get "brought to His attention"?

Is there a deeper issue (pride) causing us to shy away from exposing our utter dependence on God (exposing our weakness/helplessness)?

I don't think it's that we're reticent to bring things to Him, but to let others know we're bringing "little things" to Him. Surely that's an indicator of pride, right? I admit I don't ask friends to pray for certain things because I feel silly about it. Do I think I'm too cool to be overly concerned about my pet (for example)? Because I'm not (too cool, that is). I'm not pointing any fingers, and I'm not saying I'm ready to ask that my dog be put on the church's prayer letter. I don't know if there's a point to all this other than to say "Here's what I've been thinking about".

So I guess there are two sides of the coin I've been pondering this morning: a) I need to remember that I am 1,000% helpless apart from God, and bring everything, no matter how "small", to Him in prayer, and b) I shouldn't care if people observe "silliness" or weakness in me. Indeed, His power is made perfect in weakness.

I must tell Jesus all of my trials,

I cannot bear these burdens alone;

In my distress He kindly will help me,

He ever loves and cares for His own.

.

I must tell Jesus all of my troubles,

He is a kind, compassionate Friend;

If I but ask Him He will deliver,

Make of my troubles quickly an end.