The Beginning of Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's what the Bible says. I wish that applied to dogs because my dog Lucky is getting loonier by the moment. He could use a good dose of wisdom. I don't know what's going on in his head but it is not the same things going on in normal dogs' heads. So what to do? How to understand?

When I look at things with a new perspective, I can understand what I don't understand at first blush. Like abstract art. Who really gets that? But when an abstract artist titles his work, and I get a window into his soul...I sometimes get it. So maybe I just need to look at the world from Lucky's crazy perspective. If I carefully analyze his behavior from a dog's point of view, maybe I will get a window into his soul.

First blush analysis: he is crazy. Whenever any of us stand up, he follows us right on our heel. If we move quickly, he trots. If we close the door on him, when we open it, he is there waiting. If we sit down, he stands in front of us and noses whatever we are working on, while whining. If we tell him to get lost, and nudge him away, he goes to the nearest thing he can knock over...and does so. It is getting really really annoying. It is not that he is bumping into things by accident. He is purposefully causing mayhem. One of the strangest things he does is he goes into our middle bathroom and shoves the large shampoo and conditioner bottles over into the tub. For weeks I have been thinking my daughter was too lazy to place them where they belong and was just leaving them on the floor of the tub. Then I caught Lucky in the act.

Now, aside from understanding our loony dog, this whole perspective thing is important and I have been thinking about it a lot lately. If I am going to talk to others about God and convince them He is worth knowing and following, I need to do so in a way that they can understand and relate to.  I remember when I didn't know God, the Bible was ludicrous to me...the parts I could understand. Most of it, I did not understand -- it was jibberish, crazy. But when I believed in Jesus, it was like scales falling from my eyes. I understood on a whole new level, and it was the most wondrous book in the world.

How could I not have seen that? How could I not have understood the grievousness of my sin before God? How could I have ever done all the terrible things I did and all the while, God was watching?
And if God was watching all the while, how could He still love me? (That still eludes my comprehension.)

So what is Lucky telling us? I don't know. I want to know but I am as clueless as I was when I first opened the Bible and didn't know its Author personally. However, I appreciate how Lucky has made me think more deeply about speaking with others about God. One thing I know from my own perspective just as the Bible says: the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. As I pondered a dog's perspective, I noticed that Honeybun follows me from room to room as well, but less obtrusively. Since she is more subtle about it, she doesn't attract notice. She does the same thing Lucky does, but less obnoxiously. We are a pack. The pack wants to be together. For whatever reason, Lucky is concerned that his pack is not going to be there for him and needs reassurance....Like me wondering how God could still love me when He knows who I really am. Perhaps what my crazy dog needs is reassurance. I get that, Lucky. Really I do. All of us want to know we are accepted by the pack, and especially, safe in the guidance and love of the Pack Leader.

PS- the abstract art above is titled: The beginning of Wisdom.


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Proverbs 2: 3-10, 20-22

3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,

4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.