Top Dog

This weekend we had a visitor: Bandit (my sister's dog). As the Ravishing Mrs. TB was out of town on a retreat and I had Na Clann, I said "Sure - how much more out of control can it be?"

How wrong I was. As it turns out, the dogs were the bigger issues than the kids...

What I observed, up to this point (Sunday afternoon, where both have blissfully collapsed into slumber), was the interaction between the two: partially playing, but partially interacting to see who was the top dog; the jawing/sniffing/runaround to get the advantage on the other one. What I also noticed was that Syrah became jealous unless I first pet her and then moved to Bandit, who was very eager to please with literally her whole body wagging.

It hit me this morning: Isn't this how we act towards each other? Each of us, in our own way, trying to be "Top Dog" to God? Look at any church body or any church meeting (ever watch the dynamics of before and after church, or a men's breakfast?) and you'll see what I mean: sometimes in subtle, even unconscious ways, we try to "prove" to God that we are more into serving Him than others.

I wonder if God looks on the church with the same frustration that I look upon the dogs. He loves all His children in the church, but we are trying to clamber over each other to get His attention. He has created each of us with spiritual gifts to be used to build up the body - but not all of this are visible and seemingly rewarded in this life. Instead of being what He wants us to be (working hard on conforming to His word and using our spiritual gifts as they have been given), do we try to get His attention by doing visible things to show our devotion and service?

My best example is set up and breakdown at church. Every Sunday, a small team of men arrives early and stays late, bringing up the music equipment and setting up the class rooms and then bringing everything back down. There is a small faithful core that comes every week to do this. It is a critical task to the operation of the church - yet seemingly invisible, largely unrecognized and unrewarded. By their silent, faithful service these men are using the gifts and faith God gave them - lifting and moving, and the heart of a servant - to build up and support the church. They are serving God by doing what He has given them to do, rather than promoting themselves as "good Christians".

God gives us all the tenacity and faithfulness to serve where we are, with what gifts He has given us.