Lessons from a Puppy

By Julia Fernandes

October 21, 2011

Today morning I reached the station early. I was sitting on the bench and waiting for my train to come. Suddenly, a stray, cute, very small puppy caught my attention. He was covered with mud and dirt and was searching for food.

I watched in amazement as the little puppy was roaming everywhere in the hope of finding something to eat. When he realized there was no food around he quietly came and sat besides my feet next to me.

My heart went out to that puppy. Since, I always carry eatables with me, I removed a biscuit from my bag; I crushed it into crumbs and gave the puppy to eat. Happily he started eating the crumbs. When I gave him some more crumbs he started wagging his tail. That’s when my train arrived and I had to board it not before I turned back to see that he had finished all that I gave him to eat.

The puppy taught me three lessons today. Sometimes in life we struggle to find the things we want in life. Our pursuits take us to many places and experiences, but like the puppy, we end up exactly in the place where we are meant to be. Just when we are tired and exhausted to the point of giving up, God steps in and gives us what we have been searching for.

So, like the puppy if you too are struggling to find something in your life, do your best. Just like God led the hungry puppy to me,God will lead you to the right place and to the right people. Not everybody who wanders is lost. And when you have done your best, God will do the rest.

The second lesson I learnt was that many times you cannot see or know who your benefactor is. The puppy was so small that he could not even look up and see who is feeding him. I don’t think the puppy even saw my face. He was too small to lift his tiny head. All he knew was that from somewhere, somebody was dropping food for him and that he was getting to eat.

In life we may not always see God’s hands holding and helping us directly. But we can surely feel His love, grace and presence when He works the little miracles in our lives. Like the puppy we may be, too, weak or feeble to even look at God when God is busy helping us. But help He does.

When the puppy was busy eating I wanted to touch him and pat him on his little head. But I was hesitant since he was far from clean. I learnt my third lesson that at times we may come across people who are all messed up. We hesitate to reach out to them. Well, like the puppy, everybody deserves a touch, a pat, a smile and a little love especially when they are in the most unlovable state!