This morning I took my dog for a walk at the beach. She is a very obedient black Labrador Retriever. She gets along well with other dogs and really loves running at the beach but has never been one to go into the water. I know that's kind of crazy for a Labrador Retriever but she is an individual and I respect her desire to stay dry. It actually makes my life a lot easier if we leave the beach with her still dry, so I accept her highly unusual shunning of water as a boon for me.
The beach I go to is in Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario. There are a couple of peers that make nice, smooth, dry, clean walking. The peer was my intended destination. When I got partway down the pier, however, I looked at the nearly empty beach and thought oh why not let her run off lead for a little bit to get some real exercise. There were plenty of seagulls for her to chase away and very few people. I backtracked and made my way through the soft sand to the edge of the water where the sand is firmer. Of course, it didn't take very long before I saw someone with a small dog coming my way. I called Koffie to me so that she would be back on lead. The other dog owner said if Koffie was friendly she was fine with them running together. So once again I let Koffie off the lead and they had a great run along the beach. They stayed out of the water and dry the entire time which was not a surprise to me.
Halfway down the beach, Koffie saw another dog playing fetch and running into the water. I told her to "leave it". This is a command she has always listened to you in the past. Today, she did not listen. In fact, she was so taken with the other dog's activities that she ran into the water with her. I was completely shocked. First, she didn't listen and then she went for a little swim. Clearly, she had a good deal of interest or admiration or an adventurous enough spirit to let go of past behavior and try something new, something she really should have been doing all along.
I've been reflecting on her actions since then. What does it take to break an established pattern of behaviour that limits us, or suppresses our potential? What pull, motivation, curiosity, benefit, or altered perspective does it take for me to break away from old constraining habits so that I can enter into new, better ways of approaching life? Being a person who has gone through many life-changing transformations I have a good understanding of the various motivators that prompt change. Probably the biggest motivator has been the urging of the Spirit to accept a new truth and to live it. Some of the new truths that I have accepted over the course of my life to date include: I am deeply loved by God, change is possible, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, a nagging wife is irritating, God has good plans for me. Accepting these new truths was a little mind-bending. It took conviction and courage to embrace these truths, to bring about change, and to bring about transformation.
Romans 12:1-2 commands Christ's followers to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". To be renewed is to begin again, or to become new. It really does take a whole new mindset to do new things, to think in new ways, and to break old barriers. Like Koffie, sometimes I need someone else to lead the way.
Whatever the push or pull that moves you to healthy
renewal, I encourage you to take the plunge. You don't know what you're missing until you find and follow that new path.
Isaiah 43:19 See I am doing a new thing, don't you perceive it?
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