Through the Eyes of my Dog

A few years ago now I bought my wife a dog so that she would have some company at the house when I was at work. He is a cute little poodle full of energy who bounces around our home like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Normally, each morning my wife gets up first thing and lets the dog out into the back yard to take care of his business (as she says). Over the past few weeks, as she recovers from her recent surgery, the job of letting him out in the morning has become my responsibility.

So, for the last month and a half I have let him out in the mornings. I open our back door, he bounds outside onto the porch, and looks around, jumping like a deer turned loose into a fresh meadow. To an observer like myself, it appears as if my little dog acts as if he had never been in the backyard beore. He jumps outside with joy and enthusiasm. He first runs around the porch and then runs around every inch of the yard.

I know he has run out that door into that yard nearly every morning for more that 700 days. Yet, when he went out this morning, he ran out and ran around the yard as if it was the very first time. 

As I watched him, I actually got a little jealous. I thought to myself how wonderful it must be to enter into every single day as if it was the very first time. I thought to myself: “What would my day look like and feel like if I walked out my door each morning with the intention of entering my world with the excitement and enthusiasm of it being a first time experience? What if I was able to leave yesterday's problems, struggles, hurts, and failures behind and walk out my door to my brand new day and world?”

The truth is that I know that my dog knows he has been in the backyard before this morning. I know he knows every inch of the yard, every bush and every tree. But somehow he has the ability to enter into the world he knows from yesterday as if it was brand new to him. 

So this morning, I’m going to attempt to see my world through the eyes of my dog. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t know my world nor am I going to try to ignore the problems, struggles, hurts or failures of yesterday. I am going to remember that “This is the day the L-RD has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Think about that statement. It doesn’t say this is the lifetime the L-RD has made or even this is the year, month or week. It says “This is the day” G-D made for each of us. Shouldn’t we enter each day as if it was uniquely made for us individually?

Have you ever thought about days this way? Thought about days being unique singular gifts delivered to you and I by our Heavenly Father to open daily with the same joy we have when we unwrap any other gift that we receive.

Not only am I going to start my day walking into my new gift of a day each morning, but I am also going to remember that through repentance, I have forgiveness which makes me new all over again. So I’m not just walking into a new day, and a new world, but I am walking into it as a brand new person. 

I’m going to remember that there was and is a reason G-D gave the days he created a beginning, an ending, and a new beginning. So this morning if you see me and I look happier, freer, more joyful, it’s because I’m seeing my day through the eyes of my dog, and today is my first day ever. It is my prayer that it will be your first day ever also.