By Reba Phelps
One of my favorite pastimes while sitting in traffic is watching vehicles go by with a dog in the passenger seat, backseat, in the bed of a truck or sometimes even sitting on a dashboard. There’s just something special about the confidence in a dog‘s face when they’re riding in a vehicle. In my mind, it’s like they have evened the playing field. For a brief moment in time, they are one of us. They are in a vehicle, and they are riding off into a wild adventure on the open road. Every doggy that I see all have a common thread. They all look so immensely happy and as if no one or nothing will ever steal their joy. They look like the happiest dogs to ever live.
Even more fun to watch is the type of dog who vivaciously runs from window to window, backseat to front seat…. they just cannot wait to see what lies outside of the next window. They just want to take it all in. The best pet owners have the windows rolled down for maximum viewing pleasure, and so they can poke their head out and their let tongues and ears wag in the wind. The dog owners who faithfully carry their dogs with them will have windows with permanent lick spots on the glass or signs of muddy paw marks that are haphazardly embedded in the glass. All signals of a happiest dog on board.
It’s almost as if the dogs truly don’t care where they’re going, they are just enjoying the ride. It often breaks my heart while wondering if thier countenance changes when they actually pull up to the veternarian’s office. I can only imagine that is a buzz kill for the K-9’s who thought they were on a joy ride.
Sometimes while watching the happiest dogs, I wish for a just a tiny morsel of their energy and starry-eyed optimism. As Christians, this is the type of delight and confidence we should have when we think about the future that God has planned for us. Even when life takes us on a detour to the vet’s office, we should be eager to see what he has in store for us. God promises his children that he has plans for them and they are good plans and they are not plans to harm you. We should look like these happy dogs running to the proverbial window just to see what God is doing. Next time anxiety hits deep because we don’t know where the road is leading us, close your eyes, take a deep breath and run to the next window.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Reba Phelps jreba.phelps@gmail.com
