run, run, run, run, runaway...

*don't mind the iPhone shot!

sir paddington a wonderful dog. he's loyal...mostly. he's eager to please...sometimes. he's playful...always. he loves to cuddle, and if you throw the ball, he will most certainly go after it...although it might not come back to you. anyway, the good sir (as we like to call him) sits at the door and whines when he wants to go outside. often, when we let him out, there is a 30ft cable we attach to his collar so he won't chase any cats and we can leave him to lay in the sunshine when we go back inside.

welllll, this morning, i grabbed my computer, sat back down in bed, and was planning on finishing editing a couple shoots when he rang the bell on the door and began whining. i, thoroughly annoyed by this, got up, grabbed a coat and walked outside with him. thinking, however mistakenly, "oh he just needs to pee." WRONG! he put his face in the dead grass, flipped on his back and rolled and wiggled and slithered until he was COATED in it. yay. then, he proceeded to stand, shake his whole body, turn his head and look at me with that mischievous "i wonder how mad she'll be" look, and took off! (despite my telling him "NO!")
**now, for those of you who have never been to Tennessee, there are very few fences. this means that our backyard opens into a big wide belt of grass between our house, the houses next to, and behind us.

seriously?! ok, so now i'm angry, but due to my cold...i couldn't exactly run to chase him. about 8 houses later, i finally caught up...thankfully he had stopped to socialize with some unfriendly dogs behind a fence. as soon as he saw me approach, he sat and waited happily for me to grab him and walk him back home. he acted as though he had done nothing wrong. when i scolded him, Paddington put his ears down, lowered his head, and would not look at me until we walked back in the door.

as i was stewing over the fact that my mostly-well-behaved dog made me chase him through other backyards, i realized how much similarity there often can be between Paddington and i.

sometimes, i find myself turning around, looking my master in the eye and wondering "how upset will he be...?" and heading in the completely opposite direction of where i know i should be going. it's not ever out malice, or fear like Jonah, really more out of a curiosity of whats in the next yard. but when i slow down enough to find that its really not something worth it (like antisocial dogs behind a fence) i turn back, and happily act as though nothing has happened. that is, until i'm convicted. when something (a sermon, song lyrics, a friend's struggles...etc.) or someone does, or unknowing mentions something that convicts me, i drop my "tail between my legs," hang my head, and refuse to face reality. i'm working on remembering that conviction is not criticism whether delivered intentionally, or rather by accident; its God voice gently reminding me that He knows my heart, and always has my best in mind.

are you ever guilty of running the opposite direction?