Today has been a challenging day.  I would like to say I have handled it well, but I am really not the one who needs to decide that.  In fact, I realize my perceptions are filled with bias, and sometimes, okay frequently, not all that accurate.

But my dog, Abbey, is a pretty good barometer.  Sure, she loves me, but then again she has been trained and continues to be trained as a support dog for me.  She stays close when I am not doing well, and abandons me without regret for my wife or the boy if she knows I am doing okay.

I came home tonight and she seemed to have a need to read me.  She stayed close, entertained me a bit, went through a bit of assessment, and then dismissed me.  I will trust her.  She does not NEED ME like my wife and youngest son, who clearly need my presence and direction just to make it through the day. (I can verify this by the acknowledgment that I am both a trophy husband and the #1 dad…because Ben gave me a shirt that says so).  But more reliable than a wife and son who lies to you is a German Shepherd who is not capable of such collusion.

So I take not only solace in Abigail’s opinion, but I also stake my life upon it.  As long as I appease her, I am doing okay.

Today has been a challenging day, but thanks to the steadfast honesty of a German Shepherd, and my trust in her assessments……I will take comfort in her opinion that I am, at least, okay.

Blessings!

Tommy+

You know there are times I like to feel a sense of surety, because I believe that often with surety comes security.  Feeling insecure in life, really about anything, can really cause problems.  It can raise fear and falsely justify feelings that arise from these same insecurities.

I like to believe that I am a confident guy, that I have everything I want to have under my control, but in reality, rarely in life do we enjoy the real fruits of such delusion. In truth, life is full of uncertainty.  It is riddled with unanswered questions.  Our pasts raise fear and our futures raise anxiety.

Yet in the midst of this reality, I find that I can let go of anxiety and fear, not because they are not there, but because of both who and whose I am.  God does not promise the absence of struggle, but instead the comfort of His presence.

I spend most days not knowing what outcome I am heading towards, but do know that I need not fear the past or be anxious about tomorrow.  I will be taken care of today, to the extent that I have faith, and trust, in a God who loves me and calls me to be His own.

Blessings!

Tommy+