There are so many opportunities to make the choice to allow God into your life. Although faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26), works without the intention of doing it for the glory of God, are just as meaningless. Don’t get me wrong…it is wonderful to do good deeds – don’t stop doing them! Just start adding meaningful purpose. Slow down to be conscientious of why you are doing what you are doing. God’s voice can be heard in silence so give yourself the right to have a “time out” so you can “paws to pray.”

“Lord, I invite your Spirit to guide me into your way, into your love. I will try to follow you all the days of my life. Amen.“ (Live Like Francis, 2016)

Today, my wonderful love nugget (a.k.a. my dog Grace) has had such ants in her pants, it seems like she’s about to crawl out of her skin. We’ve gone to the dog park the last two days while the weather was cooler and she ran her tuchus off – so she should be tired, right? Nope. Boundless energy. But most of it, I must admit, is that I am super boring to live with and she is just too smart.

An impish gleam in Grace’s eye kept being shot in my direction, and her growly way of talking was saying, “Let’s go out!” Being the inside bum that I am, I begrudgingly followed her directions (I’m a well-trained person) and we went outside just in case she really needed to go to the bathroom.

After standing my ground about NOT going for a full walk, Grace walked back toward me and plopped straight down on her belly in the grass. Ugh! It was hot out! I have stuff to do! For a couple of minutes I stood there next to her feeling perturbed and waiting for her to get over it. But when she rested her head on her paw I knew we were in it for the long haul. I gave in and sat down on the grass, too.

But you know what happened then as my dog was doing her best interpretation of a solar panel? The heat made me uncurl my anxious body and stretch out. I started to notice the breeze that kept it from feeling too hot. I got to see a family of goldfinches fly by, hear frogs singing in the pond, and have the wind blow my skirt up inappropriately which made me giggle as I tried to inconspicuously look around to see if any neighbors had been looking out their windows.

And I got to thinking – if it weren’t for my dog, I’d have missed a lot of nice days lately. What starts out as an annoying nagging to go out, always turns into a pleasant, relaxing time. What seems like a hardship, ends-up being a blessing. Go figure!

So take your “paws to pray” by appreciating the unexpected ways the Spirit can guide your day. Make the intentions of your deeds to be purposefully in service to God. Take time to  look for the blessings hidden hardships by making a choice to allow God to bring you closer to His love through everything you do.