Disabled Dog Reminder – Don’t Forget to Smile

Argh. Ugh. Enough already. Just when I could think of the umpteenth reason to lose my temper in a morning jam packed with irritations – such as finding the 15.5 year old terrier in my care hobbling-running back covered in mud from next to the highway after digging himself out of the yard – I remember to smile. Somehow, by God’s grace alone in fact, I have managed to hold my temper at bay – so far anyway. And when I finally plunk down on my bed after a morning trying to get 16 mostly special needs and senior rescued dogs diapered, let out, fed, let out in the rain, fix the place where the one dog got out, bathe the mud off him, and medicate some of the dogs (oops, I forgot the eye drops for the one-eyed blind dog Glory), guess what. God reminds me to smile.

Disabled senior dog Little Miss Miracles enjoying her little nest of my clean laundry waiting to be put away……

Yes, just as I sat down, I realized disabled, senior dog Little Miss Miracles, a severe neglect case her vet thought might only live for a few weeks whose name I changed from Miracle to Little Miss Miracle-S after realizing just how many miracles she got, gave me reason to smile. For in the midst of a slightly maddening morning, to say the least, I had tried to get my clean laundry hung and put away while waiting for the rain to let up enough to get going with the dogs. Of course, like so many things in my life, I had not finished when I intended to. Little Miss Miracles, unbeknownst to me as I finished off my morning dog duties, had found my pile of clean laundry the absolute perfect spot to park herself for her morning siesta.

And though sometime amid the morning madness I had thought to start my periodic ranting and raving about why my life looks the way it does when really I have had such different plans for myself than apparently God has had for me, I found myself smiling. And now, as I wait for the rain to finish off so I can take my morning walk with Esther the most active and athletic of the dogs, I sit on paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon’s dog bed with my laptop perched upon my lap writing as he enjoys my company since he can’t get around at all without his wheelchair.

Frustrations and irritations and little challenges aside, and bigger, long-time challenges aside also, I remember that in the midst of the craziness of life God gives me reminders – and opportunities – to smile. I suppose I will wait to put the rest of my clean laundry away. Little Miss Miracles is perfectly content enjoying her little “nest” of my clothes, and I’m perfectly pooped out from a morning of trying to juggle all the dogs’ needs and shenanigans.

Don’t forget to smile today. No matter the challenges you face, tiny or enormous or both, don’t miss the opportunities God gives you to remember His love and to enjoy His blessings…

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