Finding a Home

Meet Dooley (hi Dooley!). This week, Dooley went from the local dog pound (where he spent a month) to a very good home. He looks happy, doesn't he?

Dooley had been with a family before he was given up to the pound. Dooley probably knew what he was missing when he suddenly went from warm couch to cold cement floors. In just a day at his new home, he's becoming reacquainted with a couch (and even sneaking up on the bed).

When you've grown up with some good things in your life - whether it was a solid family or good study habits - they can be taken for granted. If you lose any of those people or things, you feel the loss keenly. If you never had those positive experiences or relationships, you don't know what you're missing.

Or do you?

Most people live with longing for something. Sometimes we long for a relationship, a job, or sitting with the cool kids at the lunch table. I'm addicted to shows about addictions. It's true. But I've learned a lot from them and how each of us has the need for something greater than ourselves. That can get turned around to constantly looking inside instead of outside for those needs to be met. And often it turns into addictions to very unhealthy substances or relationships.

In our efforts to be reasonable and self-sufficient, we don't want to admit how much God can be that greater relationship. It is surely a feat of the supernatural that an invisible yet almighty God fills the gaps. That happens when we admit it, then seek it out (while some theology may say it's the other way around, I'm not going to argue that here). God is just there, waiting for us to make our "home" with him.

Dooley is relaxing and getting more comfortable in his new digs and hanging with his new people. He even chased a dog across the street out of "his" yard and back into that dog's own yard. I think he likes his new home.

Have you ever adopted a dog from a pound? Do you ever settle for "lesser gods" that are more convenient and visible than seeking what is more difficult but ultimately more satisfying?