A Chain of Soft Hearts

Our sermon Sunday was in part about symptoms of a "hardened heart" and how to avoid it.  One of the key elements to remain with a soft, obedient, and faithful spirit is to surround yourself with fellow believers. Iron sharpens iron. We are to encourage, exhort, uplift, and hold each other accountable. No one walks alone successfully on the Christian journey... or really, on any journey. We need one another.

After church, I set off for a walk with my dog, pondering the message. At the end of my driveway was a little girl's bicycle. I glanced up the street. A little girl was talking to my neighbor who was holding a little poodle.

"Do you know whose dog this is?" asked my neighbor.
"I have seen that dog," I said, "But I don't know where."
The little girl had seen the dog wandering the streets, without a collar or any identification. She had stopped her bike and picked up the little dog. My neighbor, seeing the little girl with the stray dog, had come out to help her.
"You've done a good thing," said my neighbor, "We can take over now."
"My mom says if I show I am responsible, maybe one day I can have a dog," said the little girl.
"Tell her you have shown you are responsible," I said.
The little girl rode away.

"I can't take this dog..." my sweet neighbor cried. She had very dire family concerns and she needed to deal with them. She was at her proverbial last straw. However, she is a loving and gentle human being and said she would take the dog and try to have its microchip read, and try to find its home.
"Let me take the dog first," I offered to my distraught neighbor, "And I'll walk around the block. Perhaps we will find the owner."
My sweet, overwhelmed neighbor thanked me and handed me the dog.

I cuddled the old dog against my chest. He had milky eyes from age and cataracts, and he was trembling. But he leaned against my warmth, and never made a sound. So I started off around the block. He was a little dog but even little dogs get heavy when you are walking very far. I passed a man raking leaves.
"Do you know this dog?"
"No...let me ask my wife!"
He ran in to ask his wife who also didn't know the dog. But they took my name and address in case they saw someone driving by looking for the dog.

I trudged on. The little dog trembled in my arms, but didn't seem to mind when I kissed his furry forehead.
"It will be ok," I promised the little dog.
My arms ached. I have bad joints in my wrists, and sustained carrying of anything hurts them. I was growing sore.
"Dear Lord," I said, suddenly remembering I had not prayed, "Please let the owner drive by."

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than a car pulled over,  and the driver rolled down his window.
"Just the dog I was looking for!" he said.
"Is this your dog?" I cried joyfully.
"No, it is my neighbors dog. I was mowing and I saw him run by...and then realized it was my neighbor's dog. So I got in my car to find him. He sure went a long way!"
He was from one neighborhood over.

"Well God bless you for caring!" I said, "But please tell your neighbor for me that this poor old dog should have a collar and identification in case he ever escapes again."
"I will," said the man, as I handed him the dog.

I headed home and passed the man raking leaves.
"Did you find the owner?" he asked.
"I did!" I exclaimed and told him how I had prayed and the owner appeared.

I texted my neighbor and told her the dog who was lost now was found. She thanked me and told me how she could not have borne another burden right now and was so glad she didn't have to take the dog anywhere to check for a microchip.

I thought of the chain of people who had been involved in finding the lost dog his home: the little girl who wanted to be responsible, the overwhelmed woman who knew what she must do whether she had the emotional energy or not, me who just happened to show up at the right place at the right time, the man raking leaves who gave me encouragement, and the neighbor of the owner who sacrificed his own agenda to help someone who frankly deserved whatever consequences his irresponsible dog ownership resulted in and instead...got mercy.

And of course, God...

God engineered it all through a chain of willing hearts. It reminded me of how we all should plant seeds of faith and hope the next person down the line might help nurture, water, and fertilize it. No one walks alone on the Christian journey. We all need each other. Sometimes, He shows us that in very tangible ways. I'm just glad the poor, trembling dog is home.
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Hebrews 3:12-15

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

1 Corinthians 3:5-6
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.