Lesson from the Dog

This morning the neighbor's dog started barking. My dog, Gracie, not to be outdone, immediately started growling and doing her "pre-bark woofing" as she made her way to the window to see what all the commotion was about. I started to give Gracie my usual, "Dog, you don't even know what you're barking at...." speech, when I was suddenly struck with this amusing thought. (Well, it amused me anyway...) How often do we humans practice premature or misdirected barking?

Gracie, as it turned out, was joining the neighbor's dog in barking at the school bus -- not an unexpected visitor on the block. Gracie also barks at the daily visit from the mailman. It seems silly. You would think she would begin to expect the bus and the mailman to appear nearly daily at about the same time. For some reason, she thinks it is her duty to bark. I often wonder if she would bark to warn of real danger!

The human parallel can be made in many different walks of life -- professional, parental, educational -- but, I like to pick on Christians :o) It seems Christians often "bark up the wrong tree". We seem surprised at the actions of those who do not share our faith when in reality, they are just living out their lives in the most expected fashion. Why, then, do we carry on so? Did you know Jesus barked more at the religious folks than anyone else? Perhaps we should stop to investigate the things that make God bark before we join the masses in their paroxysmal barking...