A Heart to Heart Talk with Harry

I come out to the living room in the morning and usually find my journal and my Bible where I left them- and Harry sleeping on top of them.

I think he has a hankering for more of my thoughts and maybe he wonders if I talk about him in my journal. (I do- I write often how he is the only member of our family to always be so loving, so consistently sweet, and also how he is a nasty garbage picker as well, but that everyone has to have a couple bad traits; so, I can't complain about his).

But he not only sleeps with his head on my journal, but sometimes equally as close to the Bible. I think my dog has a yearning for some answers. But the kind of truth he's looking for has to do with his security: will we return for him when we leave him for a couple days to go on a trip? Will we feed him if he flips his bowl in the air as a sign that he's ready for the next serving of that delicious dry dog food that he is stuck with? (Bill tells me not to put anything on the dry food because Harry's stomach is so delicate, but I often give him a little chicken broth on top or some cooked carrot or a little smackerel of meat. This is why he comes to me and lays at my feet and follows me throughout the day. )

Harry seems to be looking at the Bible and at my journal trying to make a choice about substance and value: which one holds the answers? Which one should be dear to him?

I love how this dog makes me feel like every word I say (understood by him or not) is important to him. I know that the truth is he goes by the tone of my voice, and not by the actual meaning of the word, in discerning what I am saying. We all talk to him in that oochy-goochy voice that you use to talk to a baby, and he lifts his eyes to us and hangs on every word we say. He cares about being near us- even if he doesn't understand us.

But the wonder of my relationship with the God of the Universe is that He completely understands every thing I say and everything I haven't yet said- but will, shortly. And so I value my journal. I value my own thoughts, my questions and my prayers written out in short hand, long hand, and sometimes in a shaking hand, because God tells me He values them.

For some, it's audacity to write and journal and read the Bible all at the same time. Some think the Bible first, the Bible only, and never mind your thoughts. Some think the Word of God can not lie side by side with the words of men. But "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"- and Christ was not afraid of the thoughts of man. While weak and wrong, often, they are still valid. They reflect our plight and our position here on earth: we only see "in part". God knows that. He still welcomes our thoughts and our questions, though. Isn't that amazing? He loves to see us bring our all before Him.

Obviously God's words are so much higher than ours, so much more in value and substance and power. Yet Harry seems to think the two- man's thoughts and God's words- are both beautiful and meaningful in their own way. And I believe he's got that thought right on the mark.