My brothers and their families were coming over, this weekend, to celebrate my Mama's birthday.  I was busy getting the food ready and setting the tables while Davis vacuumed the den rug and took out the trash. It didn't take long for me to notice that our old dog, Sugar, was taking every step that I was taking. She was looking at me like she was needing some reassurance that something out of the ordinary wasn't about to happen.

I'm her person, you see. I'm the one she looks for when she's not too sure about something and I can read her like a book. We all love Sugar, of course, but I have the deepest bond with her, I'd say. So, I could almost hear her inner voice saying, "Why don't you just sit down in your chair, please, and I'll lie in my bed next to your chair and we can relax in our comfortable, predictable routine and just forget about this whole company thing!" I suppose when you're about 87 in dog years, you're at the point where you just want every day to be the same. No surprises. 

Well, she stayed on my heels as our house filled up with people, a few of which were children, Sugar's least favorite kind of people. Discomfort was written all over her face. She likes to do the exact same activities, every day. At the exact same time. With the exact same people around. Even something as small as putting up the Christmas tree and the minor furniture adjustments required for that is anxiety-inducing. Basically, any deviation from the norm causes Sugar distress.
    
I don't know how but she just seems to sense when something is about to go down. She knows when we're getting ready to go on a trip.......even days before we leave. She can tell when we're about to have company. She knows if we turn a different way in the car than we normally do.  The sight of luggage sends her into a depression. We even tried to replace her old, raggedy blanket, one time, but she found it behind the garbage can and, with great effort, pulled it out and all the way back to our door.      

Needless to say, she's had a hard time of it lately in her quest to live a predictable life.  We've been out of town a good bit. We were definitely running on a different schedule throughout the wedding season and our house was rearranged with gifts and extra furniture everywhere.  Now, I'm starting to work longer hours getting ready for Christmas. Things have just been a little topsy-turvy around here and she's not liked it in the least.       

As heart-tugging as it is to deal with Sugar's tight grip on a routine, I was thinking how we're all like my old, unbending dog to some degree. We kind of like things to be pretty consistent. We spend time making our little nests and getting all comfy and nestled deep down in the feathers of its familiarity. It's why we get the blues after Christmas. Why we have trouble when the kids go off to college. Why we have a hard time adjusting to retirement. Why we catch ourselves wanting to call someone who's died. Why we can't wait to sleep in our own beds no matter how wonderful the vacation is. We get used to something or comfortable with the way things are and change kind of throws us off.

The funny thing about life, though, is that it's constantly messing with our nests. Just about the time we settle into one stage of life, we have to adjust to a new reality.  People die. Friends move. Jobs change. Children grow up. Roles reverse. Life is constantly moving and, sometimes, we feel like an old dog who's frantically looking for a recognizable face who will sit with us in a familiar place and just curl up under the covers of the way it's always been. 

I guess I'm writing about this because, from where I stand, I've seen life throw a lot of unexpected curves at people, lately. There have been some unbelievably life changing, dream shattering, unwelcomed winds of change blowing through several families we know and know of.  Not to oversimplify or sound flippant, but it just came to me, as I held my Sugar during the party, that when big changes happen.....when our minds are spinning with anxiety and our hearts are racing with the fear of unwanted shifts that have come our way, I suppose, like my old dog, we look around for the face of the one who always offers us the most comfort. The face of the one who we know loves us more than all the others.  The face of the one that we can always count on to bend down in the chaos and reassure us.

I'd be willing to bet that we're all in the process of some kind of change. Some small. Some overwhelmingly large and crippling. Some we knew were coming. Some hitting us out of nowhere. Some we'll recover from quickly. Others will have us on our backs for a while. Some for which we've had a lifetime to prepare. Others, no one could ever be prepared to face. Whatever change we're in or adjusting to, there is a face that we can look for in the unfamiliar chaos.

No matter the change you're facing, stay on His heels and take every step He takes through the unknown. He knows exactly how you're feeling because He can read you like a book. His heart hurts for you because you are His.  He'll never forget you're there needing His reassurance. He'll never be too busy to hold you.   


Y'all have a good day!