NOTE: This week I’m sending a daily devotion based on reflections on Jake the Beagle. Our regular weekly/Monday meditations will resume next week. Hope these are meaningful for you!
PS–The above pic is not Jake. He slept more often than he ran.
Beagles, being hunting dogs, have imprinted in their doggie genes an insane drive to roam, hopefully on the trail of a dangerous rabbit.
Jake, sharing this gene, longed to be free from the confines of home. Nothing gave him more pleasure (well, maybe a peanut butter sandwich did) than to wander out an open door and explore the world.
We had to make sure we closed the door after entering the house or our beloved dog, who loved us so much, would bolt out for freedom.
One day, having left the door open just a crack while bringing in groceries, Jake saw his chance and made his escape.
We have an abundance of deer around our home. When we’d take our beagle for walks and a deer wandered by, he’d strain at the leash. He so wanted to chase Bambi. The hunting gene again.
This time when Jake did his Houdini, a deer must have been in his sights. I deduced this when, while driving in the neighborhood frantically looking for him, I found him in a clearing. He was sitting, staring at a deer, which was standing a few yards from him and staring back.
Telepathically, I sensed what my dog was thinking.
“Now that I’ve caught this creature, what do I do?”
Jake hadn’t really thought this through. He’d been so engrossed in the joy of the chase that it never occurred to him that it wouldn’t last forever. Now what?
Perhaps I’m reading more into it, but it seems to me that this experience sobered him up a bit. I called him and he came over to me without much prompting , which was unusual. Was he sad? Confused?
It is sobering to come to the end of the chase, to climb the top of the ladder, to achieve your goal: only to find that it wasn’t what you’d imagined it to be.
We still made sure to close the door at home. I don’t think he was quite as eager to run away, though, after the deer incident.
It’s better to enjoy what’s at hand than to have an insatiable appetite. This too is pointless, just wind chasing. — Ecclesiastes 6:9
I love the Jake series. So to the heart.
Jake had a way of getting into your heart! Good hearing from you, Linda.