He gets to be more of a grumpy old man as he gets older. He’s a brilliant dog who is wary of strangers being in his space. I don’t really blame him, I don’t like them in my space either. Last year at his yearly check-up, he made sure to try to bite everyone who attempted to touch him, multiple times, while I watched helplessly. He is a strong, healthy German Shepherd, so it’s no joke when he’s mad.
This year, I asked them to take him back without me to see if he might do better that way.
As I handed the leash off to the Vet tech, I thought about how hard it is to let go. Here I was, literally handing off stressful responsibility to someone else, sitting by myself with empty hands folded and waiting to see what would happen, watching the clock tick tock back and forth.
What a picture of life.
There are so many things out of my control that it feels like someone is always on the verge of pulling the rug out from under my feet. I hand the leash off when my kids leave for school every day, getting on the bus and going out into an unknown world. I hand the leash off while my husband does scary stuff on construction sites that I’d rather not know about. I hand the leash off, and hand it off again, and hand if off again, hoping my family comes back to me and risks pay off and things turn out well.
On the upside, when you have to hand the leash off, you’re left there with an awareness that all you really have is the mercy of God and the care of Jesus upon your life. All of the sudden the things that really matter bubble to the surface, all as a result of your empty-handedness. As I prayed today, “Into your hands I commend my spirit…and their spirits…and all our spirits, forever and ever amen.”
Maybe that was dramatic prayer for a Vet visit.
But maybe not.
I think it was just the right prayer for letting go of the leash.
PS. My dog did just fine and didn’t try to bite anyone’s face off this year.
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