The Itch
a Sonbeam from warren and mary beth powell
Ali, my little West Highland terrier, likes to sleep on the bed with
me. She likes to 'stand guard' over the house by being on the corner
of the bed nearest the window, with her face looking into the front
yard, little pointy ears at attention, listening for animal sounds
or suspicious noises. Since I sleep with the window open, out here
in the country she hears plenty.
There are two rules for Ali sleeping on my bed. When she barks, she
must bark softly, so as not to make my heart jump out of my
chest...... this one still needs a lot of work. Secondly, she is not
to scratch when she itches.... it vibrates the bed and wakes me up.
And I think most of the time she does it out of reaction, not
through any kind of 'doggie thoughts'. Usually it takes merely the
mention of her name, or the word no, and she stops.
The last couple of mornings, though, she has been breaking the
scratch rule more and more. I bathe her with a medicated flea and
tick shampoo. This is to kill all active insects and their eggs
which are present. Then I dry her off and wait around 5-6 hours. I
then apply Frontline, giving her a sort of covering of protection
for the next month.
Early this morning, as dawn was working her way through the trees, I
was laying across the bed next to Ali, looking out the window.
Suddenly something became clear to me. No matter how many times I
shampoo her and apply Frontline, as long as she continues to go
outside and play in the woods, she will continue to offer a free
ride on her body to all sorts of critters.... and no medicine or
protection kills everything on contact. Many times Ali becomes a
'carrier'.... just bringing fleas and ticks into the house where
they can live and breed, getting on visitors or me.
In other words, she is just like me. I know the Lord. However there
are areas of my life that continually need work and attention. And
the Lord has saved me from the world. 'I am covered by the blood' as
a believer likes to say. And I believe it.
But, that protection does not keep me from becoming a 'carrier', and
passing things on to others. In fact, the more that I am simply a
part of this world, or listen to vulgar jokes, watch the wrong
movies and make daily decisions not based on the Word, then not only
my life, but the lives of those around me will be affected.
Just because I have God's covering of protection and am born again,
does not mean that I am not to take continued precautions. I must go
to the Lord in prayer daily and renew my spirit through study of the
Bible every day, or I can be assured that I will have place after
place after place to scratch..... because, just like Ali, whether I
realize it or not..... the itch will be there.... in different
places..... hounding me to scratch.
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