But this afternoon, dogs were not my friend. After church, we were exhausted. All I wanted to do was take a nap after throwing the birthday party. It was raining and thundering- exactly the type of weather in which to snuggle down and seriously sleep. Alas, the neighbor's dog. Our house is situated very closely to the neighbors' houses on either side. This dog is sometimes left outside on the neighbor's porch. Unfortunately, when he barks, he sounds like he is barking in my room. Could you sleep with a dog barking in your ear? Maybe. I happen to be the highly sensitive type who probably should have a poodle except that I can't stand how high-pitched poodle voices are. So, this afternoon, after over a year of trouble with this neighbor's dog, I did the mature thing and went out on both the front and back porch for good measure and yelled at the dog for its and the neighbors' benefit so that it would stop barking. Turns out the neighbors in question weren't at home, only my kind, sweet neighbors across the street were home and on their porch, and the dog wasn't phased by me. So, after embarrassing myself and getting my blood pressure all elevated, I did the next sensible thing. I wrote a nice but pointed letter in which I appraised the neighbors of our continuing problem (this would be my second letter delivered) and then left the premises to run errands so I didn't have to hear the barking anymore.
It is amazing how the Holy Spirit works, though. For the few hours after I left the letter, I kept feeling this sense of dread about the neighbors. When Kort and I took Rosemary on a walk later, I didn't even want to walk past their house. Don't go imagining it was a mean letter. It really wasn't. It's just that the letter would not have allowed mutual communication and I felt since I delivered my first letter that the neighbors kind of avoided me when walking the dog.
We did the amazingly difficult but truly mature thing and walked over as a family to talk to the neighbors after seeing their car return. We took the letter back before they had read it, and then knocked on the door. Gulp. The wife came out onto the porch. We politely introduced ourselves and asked if we could speak to her about her dog. She agreed, though not very warmly. We made the observation that the dog did not (ahum) do well during thunderstorms. She was demonstrably upset but explained that the dog is 16 years old (it looks like it's two), she has had it longer than her children, and that she had already gone twice to put it down (it had bitten one of her children, requiring stitches) and was simply unable to do it but that she would "just go tomorrow and do it." Of course, we immediately spent the next few minutes talking her down and explaining how we would really like to be friends and not feel awkward but would also very much like to work on a solution with the dog. Anyway, I'm not sure we came up with any solution other than an understanding of why they continue to leave it outside despite it being a really excitable, overly bark-y dog. But at least I now know that they aren't just insensitive people. They actually happen to love that dog (?)!
Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." In ALL things! He worked in a dog barking and annoying me hugely, preventing me from resting or sleeping FOR MY GOOD. It is so easy for me to be sensitive to my own perceptions but hard to be sensitive to others. It is also super easy to cling to our rights and to ungently use the truth but it is not easy to submit to one another in love. I actually have a legal right not to hear that dog barking, but do I care more about asserting that right or having a relationship with my neighbor whose heart is breaking over her old dog whom she loves? I want to care more about her and about what God thinks of me in how I relate to her. Does God see that I am reflecting him well? Is he pleased? I thank God he cares enough about me to let a dog bark, interrupting my much desired afternoon nap so I could work out these ongoing issues face-to-face with that neighbor. After all, in God's perspective, people, not dogs are the pinnacle of his family. He made man a little lower than the angels and put him on earth to subdue it and everything in it. He calls us to love our neighbors. It is easy to captivate an infant with a dog, but I pray that as Rosemary grows, and God grows me, I can teach her the beauty, difficulty, and delight of loving other people because God loves us. How much more proud of her I will be when she begins learning that lesson than I am hearing her cute little bark-y "ah ah ah ah's". After all, barking isn't my favorite thing.
