Do you remember losing something so dear? What did you feel?
Panic. Fear. Worry. Of course you didn’t simply mope around with those feelings.
You looked for that precious thing, whatever that is, determined not to leave
any stone unturned. When you realized your search was in vain, you finally break
down and cry. Most of the women do (but who knows, men have their soft side,
too?).
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| Baby Boogie (New Year's Eve 2012) |
That’s what happened to my mother three nights ago when we
lost our dog, Bogart or in English, Boogie. Sometimes, I felt she treats it more as her own baby than as a dog.
Baby Boogie is a white shih-Tzu who doesn’t look like one cos Mama keeps on
trimming his hair short and who doesn’t have a sense of direction, would run
even to any stranger he meets.
Boogie got lost when he escaped from his cage that Sunday
afternoon and slipped through the narrow opening under our gate. When my kuya was leaving the house, he forgot to
put back the wooden plank intended to block that passage.
Mama and my sister, Valerie, got back from church to find an
empty cage, an empty garage. No Boogie in sight. They looked around, asking
neighbors along the way but still no Boogie. A few witnesses said another
neighbor took Boogie in. Mama went to the house they pointed. The people there denied
having seen Boogie. So, with a crushed heart, she went home.
That night, I saw her wiping some tears during her quiet
time. I may not have cared about Boogie as much as she did but I felt her
sorrow. Still, she clung to the hope that God will touch the heart of the
person who got Boogie and return him to us. If not, that those persons will
care for him more than she did.
While at work the next day, I received a text from my
younger brother, Nikolai. Someone has returned Boogie. Yehey! Mama couldn’t be
happier.
At home, while playing with Boogie, it hit me that I am like him. We are like him. Pardon
me for the analogy. I know it’s degrading, even insulting, to be compared to a
dog. But hear me out, please.
Boogie’s cage is like the restrictions God has put in our
lives. Like when you want to pursue a relationship but He says no because it’s
simply not the best for you. Or when you wish to be the filthiest rich man on
earth but He says no because it will derange your life’s priorities. Sometimes,
we feel He is a sadist, strict and kill-joy God who wants us penned in just for
the sake of it.
He knows that we are as stubborn, as clueless, and as
foolish as Boogie. We want freedom but we ignore what destruction awaits us
outside God’s boundaries. We fail to see that the cage and the wooden plank are
not to torture us slowly to a death
by boredom. We fail to see that it is meant to keep us safe and secure inside
the love, provisions and protection of our Master.
But a more profound reminder to me is how GREAT His love is.
Remember the Parable of the Lost Sheep? When the man who owns a hundred sheep
left the ninety-nine to look for that stray one? When he was happier about finding the lost 1 that about the 99
who stayed?
“In the
same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones
should be lost.”
Matthew 18:14
If you ask, what if you’re so lost and you can’t find your
own way back anymore? That’s the point. We can’t. I bet our tendency is to run
away farther, either out of rebellion or shame. Guess what,
“I will
search the lost and bring back the strays…”
Ezekiel 34:16
God sent someone to come out looking for you.
Even though it’s out of our stubborn will to escape from
home, God was more than willing to give His everything to bring us back. He
gave His one and only Son, Jesus!
Imagine if that neighbor asks of Mama to giveNikolai, her own son, in exchange for Boogie the dog and she
willingly does. Crazy, right? We don’t deserve that but He did it anyway to show
how much He loves me and you.
And these are the dougie lessons I learned:
1. Know who your Master is and that He loves you.
2. Remember you’re lost without Him.
3. He wants you to come home and stay with Him.
Forever.
