March 27: Dog, a Reverse of God

Most everyone has noticed that dog, man's best friend, in reverse, spells God, man's best friend/father/creator. The similarities don't stop there.

Let's imagine that you are a dog and the dog's owner is God:

The owner wakes up to wet kisses from his dog. The dog has been out eating dirt and barking but has finally come in. The owner responds with praise and pets the dog. (We go out into the world and consume some pretty gross stuff, but when we retreat to God, he does not turn our dirt away but accepts us, dirt and all, and even takes the dirt onto himself. And he's excited about it too! He welcomes our dirty selves to him!)

That afternoon, another dog joins the first in greeting the owner, but the first keeps the second from getting as close to the owner as he already is. (Sometimes, as Christians, we act like the first dog. We want to keep God all for ourselves when in fact, there is plenty of him for everyone.)

I think it's helpful to keep this in mind in our relationships with God. He understands that we don't always know right from wrong and that we make mistakes, and even with that understanding, every time we greet him or turn back to the right thing, he is ecstatic!