Who Is Your Master?

It's been over a month since we became a pet free house, and the adjustment hasn't always been easy.  We miss our pets, especially Hank.

The kids often ask for Hank stories and Erik and I have loved telling them all about his puppy days.  Just recently I shared one of my favorite more recent memories with them, hopefully you will enjoy it too.  

Each year since my older kids have been in school, going back to their preschool days, they have taken Hank to school for show-and-tell at least once during the year.  When Nate was in the 1st grade his teacher absolutely loved dogs so JT, Hank and I walked down to school for show and tell.  Of course Hank was just wonderful and the kids loved having him in class.  JT was only 3 at the time so he just wondered around, exploring the room, not really paying attention to what we were talking about...or so I thought.

I was telling the first graders about how important it was to properly train Hank.  We knew right away he was going to be a huge dog, so it was important that he know who was in charge and that he listened and obeyed what we asked him to do.  One of the ways we showed Hank that we were the master and he was the dog, that WE were the ones in charge was by making sure we walked out the door first and Hank followed us.  To dogs, the is a sign of dominance or submission, the dominant person - the master, the one in charge- gets to walk through the door first and the submissive one - the follower- goes through second.  This was a small but important way we showed Hank that we were in charge.  

We finished up show-and-tell and as we were leaving, I ushered JT out the classroom door, then I followed and of course Hank came last.  Once we entered the hallway, JT lifts his arms, fists raised in victory and declares, "YES!  I am in charge!"

Huh, didn't really think he was paying attention!

It's a subtle thing you have to admit.  But it makes a huge difference.  The one that comes first is the master, he is the one in charge.  

The same thing is true in our life.  We might say that Christ is our master, that he is the one in charge.  But if we don't let him go first, if he isn't the one we are following when we walk out the door...open our wallet...make our to do list..schedule our day, can we really say he is in charge?  Can he be our master if we don't follow him?

The one who goes first is the master, he is the one in charge.

So my question to you is who is your master?