How can I refuse her anything?
She barked once at 4 this morning. I got up. She needed her belly scratched.
At 5 I carried her out to go to the bathroom. I gave her about 15 minutes alone and then brought her back in.
Yesterday we had lovely weather and I wanted to clean up my garden so I carried her and her bed outside to get some sun.
She seems to be liking this extra special treatment. This morning after I fed her and I was finally able to sit down and read my Bible, Maggie started wimpering. Shannon said to her, "What do you want Maggie?"
She immediately stopped.
After he left the room she started wimpering again and looking at me. I said, "Maggie, let me read."
And she quit. She wanted me to pet her. She wanted me to sit beside her in her little bed.
Is my sweet puppy becoming a bit spoiled?
Our older dog Zeko, our faithful companion for 10 1/2 years (he's 11+) isn't appreciating the attention Maggie is getting. In fact, I think you could say he resents it. But he's tolerating it because he knows she doesn't feel good.
God teaches me so much through my every day life -- through my kids, my pets, my garden, my caregiving. Everything is a lesson, a word from Father God. There's meaning in all we do -- eternal meaning and purpose.
It's okay to be spoiled sometimes as long as we know it is not a way of life. People who act spoiled (another word is entitled) miss life. They miss loving others and loving Jesus Christ. You can't be loving and other-centered if you have a sense of entitlement. Any "love" from someone who believes they deserve a certain things from life will feel like it comes with a price. Or that "love" will feel conditional.
I don't mind spoiling Maggie right now because I know she is hurting, but it will be very annoying if she expects it once she is healed.
Do we feel we should have certain things in life? Do we think a way of life is beneath us? Jesus didn't.
Paul addresses this perfectly in Philippians 2:3-7. He writes, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humilitiy of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but, emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men."