The barking dog …

From the moment the small dog saw me, it started barking, and didn’t stop until I finally walked out of its sight.

I was walking down a quiet road and, as I neared a house with a low chain link fence around the front yard, I spotted the small dog as it stood in the corner of the fence nearest me and began to bark. What was annoying was the fact that there was no need for the dog’s noisy disagreement about my presence. I was on the opposite side of the road than the yard the dog was in. I was walking simply and quietly, making no threatening gestures to the animal or it’s master’s house. I wasn’t making any noise. I wasn’t bothering the loud, little creature or anyone or anything else. I was simply passing through.

As I became even with where the dog was, although still on the other side of the road, the little creature suddenly ran the entire length of the fence to the farthest corner of the front yard so that it could watch me — and bark — for as long as possible.

That reminded me of how so many people tend to be loudly annoyed simply because of the passing of others in their lives. Like the little dog running the length of the fence, many complain noisily and constantly throughout every moment of the simple passage of others.

The problem with having a grumbling attitude is that it leads us away from God to disobedience. In Psalm 106:25 we read about the Israelite people who, like that dog that barked at me, were noisy “yappers.” Their grumbling led them to sin: “Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord.”

We may not “grumble in our tents” but we do grumble in our cubicles at work, in our homes, in our cars, in our churches, and about any other place where we cross paths with others. And such griping leads us away from God.

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue with some very clear instruction when writing to the Ephesians: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29).

When others pass through your life, do you greet them with words that are an encouragement, or do you bark loudly as they pass by? Do you grumble over the presence of others, or are you a source of blessing by your own presence?

Scotty