Your face, Lord, I will seek

When you said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek." Psalm 27:8

It is a rare night when sleep eludes me. But last night a combination of allergies, a sore throat and the basset hounds tag-teaming whining managed to keep me awake until about 3:00 am. On a normal evening, bedtime for both me and the hounds is around nine o'clock. We have the ritual of one last run outside (for the dogs, not me), then the basset herding into their crates. But, last night Jerry broke with the routine and tried to put the dogs to bed early. Forget that. Samuel can obviously tell time. He was not amused and used the basset equivalent of "I need a drink of water and there is a monster under my bed" to get me to spring him lose. After several attempts to convince him that he was going to stay in his crate, I caved in and admitted I just did not have the energy to fight the battle. So, he got to sleep on his chaise lounge in the living room. It wasn't long before Tillie realized she was in her crate and Sam wasn't, so we had round two. This morning when I walked through the living room and saw them both snoozing peacefully, I considered waking them up just to get even, but the whole "let sleeping dogs lie" seemed to apply.

Anyway, between my basset battles and trying to sleep there was ample time to meditate on the thought, "Seek My face." Watch how I tie those two things together.

Basset hounds have taught me a lot of things that I wish I had known before I had children. Perhaps the most important thing is that if a basset hound is not looking at you, he is not paying any attention whatsoever to what you are saying. (There is probably only a 50-50 chance you are getting through if he is looking at you.) It is true with all dogs that eye contact is important in the training process. That is why one of the first lessons of Puppy Kindergarten is teaching the puppies eye contact. When the puppy will look you in the eye when you call his name, you reward with a treat. The idea is to get the dog to be sensitive to look to you for commands.

Now, before bassets, we had a dog that had long mastered the art of watching my every move. He slept by my bed, sat by my chair, and if I moved, he moved. He always met me at the front door. And, during legislative sessions when my hours would get longer and longer, Jerry would have to remind me to go into the kitchen and offer Fritz his food bowl. He would lose weight because of his refusal to eat unless I had handed him the bowl. He followed me from room to room and desired nothing more than to have me reach down and rest a hand on him. His faithfulness to me was always a challenge to me to strive for that level of devotion in my relationship with the Lord.

But, alas, puppies do not actually replace loyal dogs. They just keep you too busy to focus on grieving the loss of the old friend. I find that in my own spiritual life, there is still a lot of the basset puppy in me. Because I get busy following some exciting trail (or trial), I forget to watch for my master's face. Oftentimes, like the basset, I get so focused on the scent of what I am following, I don't even hear when my name is called. Then, there are the times like when we have Samuel out for a walk. After repeatedly calling his name, we step in front of him to break his line of vision. He will suddenly realize we have been trying to get his attention. And, since the only thing he knows he is always expected to do on command, he will automatically sit. Sitting may or may not have been the point we were trying to get across, but that response is how we know we have his attention.

So, how often does the Master have to call your name, jerk your leash, step across your path, or break your line of vision to get your attention? And, what is your response when you finally realize He is talking to you?

Lord, I pray that you would make me ever mindful of Your presence in my life. Remind me to be sensitive to those things that are important to You. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear what You are doing in the world around me. Lord, I seek Your face.