PESKY PETS

Saga of Mia and Gracie

We have two pesky pets. The oldest is a cat named Mia who, by all estimates, is 21+ years old. She’s been a loner, not friendly, and even known to attack us if we get too close. Pesky doesn’t begin to describe her. Within the past few months, however, she has warmed up to me and now she follows me around hoping I’ll sit down for a few minutes and cuddle with her. In fact, her desire for cuddling is becoming a bigger nuisance than her occasional need to bite me! My biggest pet peeve, however, is that she doesn’t always use her litter boxes (we have 2 strategically placed for her convenience). More about that in a bit. Our other pesky pet is a nearly 15-year-old cock-a-poo named Gracie. She’s getting old, has lost most of her teeth, has incontinence issues, and a variety of other issues. She’s been the most loyal companion all these years and it hurts us to see her aging so visibly. Between the two of these creatures, they produce more pet hair than anyone could imagine. But, we love our pesky pets!

Recently I had a weird dream that, after I woke up and thought about it, actually spoke truth I feel like needs to be shared. That’s not to say that it wasn’t to speak to me personally — it did and still does. But it needs to speak to us all. The dream wasn’t long but it “showed” me enough for me to understand a message.

Back to Mia’s issue with the litter boxes … she doesn’t always like to use them and has found a discrete place to do her business — behind our television in the living room. We’ve blocked off her access to that spot but she still manages to push her way in. This fact was, I’m sure, the basis for my recent short dream. Let me try to summarize it for you …

I was standing in the living room and Mia ran up from behind me and, in full view, pushed the blockade away and went behind the tv stand. I peeked behind the stand caught her doing her “thing”, leaving her soil behind. As soon as she saw me, she scooted away through another little opening she’d made. Upon closer look, there were puddles of urine all around the area indicating she’d been using that space frequently. I was furious when I found what she’d been planting in my living room — even after putting up barricades — and immediately began to clean it up.

That’s all I can remember about the dream … but as I very vividly recalled the dream that morning, it became very clear to me that we all have “pets” we love to cuddle, pet and pamper but who leave their “poop” in hidden places in our lives — in our hearts. Their soil often goes undetected until we’ve allowed it to remain and it begins to stink, or until the light goes on and we actually see the work of the “pet” as it soils the hidden recesses in our hearts.

We’ve got to identify these “pesky pets” (actually the phrase “pet demons” was what I wrote down after my dream) . We must not only block them, but clean up their soil. As long as we allow them access to the hidden places in our lives, they will leave their soil and there will be stink in our lives that render our hearts “unclean”.

We live in a time when the enemy is looking for hidden places in our hearts to deposit his “soil”. At the same time, we are looking for excuses to cover up the soil and make excuses for it rather than tackle it and clean it up — much like I’ve done with Mia (she’s old, she’s not as strong as she used to be, she can’t climb stairs as easily, she has a personality disorder, she was born this way, etc.).

There’ is no excuse for the enemy’s soil to remain in our hearts … the Word of God — Jesus, the Living Word — is the greatest cleanser we’ll ever find — better than Clorox or any other strong chemical. It’s the Word that will expose the soil and His shed blood will indeed cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness!

Look around your “house” for hidden soil … I guarantee it’s there. But, I also guarantee that the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus will clean it right up!

Open the Word and let the cleansing begin!!!