Drawn By Love

Drawn By Love

In our family we have an assortment of extra friendly pets of which two of them are dogs. Emma is our gentle, soft and tender hearted dog. Her long white fur flops sadly over her eyes beside her drooping ears giving her an even more heart wrenching gaze from her liquid brown eyes. Emma is a maltese cross papillon, boasting a fluffy white coat, a feathery tail  that curls up and over her body, seeming to disappear and a yap that is loud and piercing. Emma is a house dog. She simply could never think of living life outside like an ordinary dog. Instead her life is one of regal repose curled up on a cushy lounge chair or on my  comfortable bed and at meal times she places herself securely beside me, waiting patiently for me to kindly share my meal with her. She truly has a life of comfort and ease. 

Aiko on the other hand is an exuberant outside dog. She is a fox terrier with coarse short fur and floppy black ears that surround a face of loving adoration as she looks up at me.  As much as she loves to slip inside at any given opportunity, she can never find herself dozing nobly in delicate quietude. Instead, she flings herself crazily at the pace of a race horse around the living room, leaping from lounge chair to lounge chair and hurtling herself up the hallway to jump all over the bed like a naughty child. Yes, Aiko is an outside dog.

Several times a day I place Emma in the back yard where she quickly does her business and then runs rapidly to the back door again, banging with her paw to be let inside. Occasionally she enjoys sniffing leisurely around the fence line and exploring the yard. Aiko is always entirely delighted to have her presence in the yard and immediately sets out to motivate Emma to play with her. Aiko’s form of encouragement however, makes Emma’s life rather miserable. Aiko, being slightly taller than Emma, can see that tempting tufted tail hidden away in a curl over her back and the desire to pull that tail overpowers Aiko frequently. In her eagerness to force Emma to play with her, Aiko, enthusiastically grabs Emma’s tail between her teeth and pulls. She pulls hard. She pulls so hard she actually has Emma running  frantically backwards around the yard, twisting and turning in horror as she looks upon Aiko’s clenched teeth around the end of her tail. Aiko’s idea of encouragement is to use force. She will make Emma play with her. Eventually Aiko lets go, sometimes Emma will then play with her and other times Emma will whisk her tail away from those snapping teeth and make haste to the back door only to find Aiko outrunning her and grabbing her tail once more. 

The joy of each other’s company is eclipsed through force. Aiko deliberately coerces Emma to play with her by using simple brute strength. Under duress Emma is pressed to chase and romp merrily around the yard. The compulsion over rides any choice on Emma’s side to desire to join in with a happy doggy game.

How often I have misunderstood God’s character and thought of Him as a God of force. Does God make me good through compulsion? Does God coerce me to spend time with Him? The Bible tells me God is love (1 John 4:8) . Love is about freedom. Freedom to choose, whether those choices are right or wrong, good or bad, we have the freedom to choose. There are consequences to what we choose but we have that complete freedom to choose. In love there is no force or coercion or else it would not be love. Instead, God draws us with the desire for His love. In the depths of our heart we have an empty place just for Him, we have a soul hunger that responds only to His drawing love.

Ecc 3:11 “He has put eternity into man’s heart..”

Jer 31:3 “The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

1 Cor 13:5 “It (love)  does not insist on its own way.”

Will I stop resisting the longing of God in my heart and and allow Him to draw me with a love that is indescribable, to enjoy the rapturous delights of being in a loving relationship with Him that stretches from now throughout all eternity?

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.