BOUNDARIES
Joe Lyons •
October 7, 2023
DIANNE’S DOGHOUSE
BOUNDARIES
It seemed like an impossible choice, adopt a rescue dog, or pick out a puppy. Ken and I had a fenced-in back yard and we could give a home to a dog in need, but we were waiting for direction or guidance. We found a place that had a litter of puppies and spent an hour surrounded by impossibly furry bundles of energy whose teeth were so small we couldn’t even feel them gnawing on our toes. We held them and snuggled them, looked at each other and knew these pups weren’t for us.
On our way home we felt led to stop at our vet’s office. As soon as we entered, our vet came out with a little two-year-old neglected boy and said, “I feel this little guy should go home with you.” As this pup crawled onto my lap on the way home, I knew that this decision… God’s decision, had been right all along.
Ken and I named our boy Simon Peter but nicknamed him The Great Houdini. Pete was the dog version of this great artist. Pete could climb and jump and wedge his little body through a slightly opened door. Just when we thought we had tackled every escape situation, he found a new way out.
I used to love to read in the back yard and have Pete on the bench next to me untethered. While I was engrossed in my book, Pete would slither off the bench and be halfway up Center Street, before I sensed his absence. Determined to thwart him, I barricaded off the north side of the house with fence and trellis. The little stinker turned his attention to the south side and off he went, either chasing an Amish buggy or checking out the customers at SAVE-A-LOT.
Pete hadn’t ignored his boundaries to be bad or because he wanted to leave his nice cozy home. He was just curious and wanted a squirrel or a bird or a horse, “good things.” Boundaries stood in the way of his pleasure. Since he was a dog, he didn’t know boundaries were for his benefit, so he wouldn’t be hurt or even killed.
God sets up fences for us, just like I did for Pete, to keep us from harm and sometimes from death. While we are chasing “good things,” like Pete did, God sees the danger and draws us closer to Him. Pete didn’t try to escape anymore, he just basked in my love and stayed safe within his boundaries.
Slow your pace, draw boundaries around your work, and take time for the people you love.
Blessings,
Dianne Hammontree Secretary of Homeward Bound Dog Shelter