Lily the Christmas Pug

Lily the Christmas Pug

Puppy Number 5 had 3 brothers and 1 sister.  And 1 very nice Mother who loved her 5 puppy-kids more than anything else in the world.  

She made sure they had enough food and water and time to play; something all kids need to do.  This made Puppy Number 5 especially happy as she loved to play, more than anything else in the world.

She ran and jumped and tumbled head-over-tail all day long.  She never got tired, even though her 3 brothers and 1 sister and her 1 very nice Mother did.  But that didn’t matter to Puppy Number 5.  She just continued to run and jump and tumble head-over-tail all by herself.

One day Puppy Number 5 noticed that one her brothers was gone.  Now there were only 2 brothers and 1 sister to play with.  This made her sad but her very nice Mother, who loved her puppy-kids more than anything else in the world explained that her brother had gone to live with another very nice family and that he was playing and jumping and tumbling head-over-tail with them.

This made Puppy Number 5 very happy and she ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail some more – knocking over a potted plant.  But her very nice Mother just smiled, gave her a lick and nicely asked her to be more careful. She loved her very nice Mother.

It wasn’t long before all of Puppy Number 5’s 3 brothers and 1 sister had left to run and jump and tumble-head-over-tails with new families and she was left all alone.  But her very nice Mother explained that this was the way God had planned it.  She told Puppy Number 5 that she was an extra special puppy with very special running and jumping and tumbling-head-over-tail skills and that it would take a very special home to properly care for her.  It couldn’t be just any family; it had to be an extra special one.

So Puppy Number 5 continued to run and jump and tumble-head-over-tail while she waited for that extra special family her very nice Mother had said God promised.

One day, right before Christmas, a very nice man came to see Puppy Number 5.  He got on the floor and held her. But she jumped out of his lap and ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail. The very nice man smiled. He even began to laugh.  She made him very happy.  And his laughter made her very happy.  And she ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail some more.

Then Puppy Number 5’s very nice Mother gave her an extra special lick and told her that her extra special family had come to take her home.  And so they had.  The very nice man told Puppy Number 5 that she would be the perfect Christmas gift for his very nice wife.

And she was.  His very nice wife loved that she ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail.  And she, just like her very nice husband, smiled and laughed and ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail with her. And they both hugged and smiled and said “Merry Christmas!” and then they began to call Puppy Number 5, "Lily".

Puppy Number 5 loved her new name.  The very nice wife explained that Lily meant graceful, beautiful, loyal, and smart and that it suited her perfectly.  Lily thought so too and she ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail – very gracefully. 

Lily thought about her very nice Mother, who she loved very much, and knew that she was right.  This was an extra special family that God had chosen for her and she loved her new family more than anything else in the world.  So she ran and jumped and tumbled-head-over-tail some more.

Merry Christmas!

Morning Coffee ~ Making Plans

In my Advent devotion of today, Max Lucado wrote “Joseph….made the big decision of discipleship.  He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.”

This is IT!  Discipleship in 8 words or less: place God’s plan ahead of my own.  In theory it sounds so easy.  Simply rearrange my plans so that God’s are first on my list.  The rest will then fall into place.

But there’s the rub; what are my plans? Do I even have a list of plans?  That would assume that I’ve have actually decided where I am headed and have sealed it in ink.

However that is so not where I am right now – but not for lack of trying.  I want plans.  I want big plans.  I want my life to have direction and meaning and purpose.  And this desire consumes my days.  It’s the first thing I think when I awake in the morning and it’s the last thought on my mind when I finally fall asleep.  What should I be doing?  And I run from pillar to post seeking an answer.

But maybe that’s the real problem. I am working too hard at seeking my own plan.  Maybe the answer is as simple as these words indicate:  place God’s plan ahead - ahead of all things.  Simply place God at the beginning of each day and at the end of each day.  Then - and only then - will His plan for me be made clear.

Time to warm my cup and as I bring my day into better focus.
Merry Christmas!