The time of year has finally passed......We have a beautiful dog named Nakita and she is 12 years old. Our vet tells us she is malamute and shepherd, her markings are beautiful. The original owners told us that she was shepherd wolf and at times we can believe it. Such as the many times she had dug 'dens' in our back yard. 2-3 feet down and anywhere from 3-5 feet back. It has been several years since she has done that now but it still is a lesser problem in the Summer when she wants to get cool. Although she has beautiful markings and temperament and we had wanted to breed her, we never did. By the same token we have never had her spayed. So Nakita will go into heat. These days it is only once a year in this case last November. This week we went through her 'labor'. It took us a while to figure out what was wrong with her. She wasn't eating, she lost some muscle mass, she wanted to be with us in our rooms constantly, and then we remembered her heat. We knew what we were up against. For several days she was whimpering and then she kept Monique' awake most of one night (she sleeps in her room) till she woke us up and we brought her into our room at 3am. She found a toy and carried it around and scratch around on the carpet and with the blanket to make a bed for her and her puppy. Yesterday when our niece brought her real puppy over and it tired to find a teat, she low growled at it and would not let it get to her. This morning as I watched her scratch around in her doghouse in the cedar bedding we have for her I could not help but see a spiritual side to all this. How often we want something so bad that we are willing to do what ever it takes to make it happen even if we have to fake it. We put on the 'airs' to appear smart, successful, pretty, rich, happy, etc when in fact we are not. We try so hard to please the world so we look good or try to feel good when in fact, the world at large doesn't really care. I encourage you to look at your heart. King David said, search me and know me. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the right path. Ahhhhhhhh That is a little difficult to ask God our creator who knows the heart to search it. For He knows where to look and often we don't want to see what is really there. I know for me it is very hard yet I strive for something better, I want more. Not in this world but in the world to come. Yet I am painfully human and my heart is "deceitfully wicked". I lie to myself so I don't have to look at how I really am. Praise God that my heavenly Daddy sees my heart in all its good and ugly and loves me all the same. You too are His child, you too are loved by Him. Talk to Him to day and know that His love for you will cover all that is there with His love and forgiveness. Then like King David, and me, and so many others you can say, "Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me.

I get a little snippet of devotional thought from A Word With You from Ron Hutchrcaft ministries. It usually challenges me to look at my life and relationship with God and reevaluate. So it was today. He was speaking about the danger of having sharp edges around the grandchildren and how he rounds them off so that the ones he loves will not get hurt. And so it is in our lives. Ron tells us that we all have sharp edges that hurt those we love and those whom we do not mean to hurt. We all have buttons that can get pushed and we all know what they are. He encourages us to take the time to turn those 'buttons' over to God and allow Him to work it out so that we will have one of the fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness.I know that I am in need of this change for I know that there are those I love that are reading this too and they know also. So I am praying and asking that my heavenly Father will change my heart, heal the hurt, create in me that 'clean heart' so that I will love and not hurt those around me. How about you?

Once upon a time there was a little church that had a church family much like the one in your home. There was the optimists, the pessimists, the workers, the talkers, the organizers, the musical ones and the musically challenged, the leaders, and the followers. All of them together making a 'family'. One day the 'father' felt that the heavenly Father was calling them far away and he left. In his place there came another 'father' for the family. At first the new 'father' of the family felt that he could not do anything with the family. The 'father' saw that there were things that needed to be changed and tried to show the family what they were doing wrong......often. The family was sad and as they were trying to do the right thing but it was not going well. As the time passed, it was harder and harder to bring the family together. The family was as some families were......arguing and finding fault, trying to tell others what was wrong and how to change what they were doing, feeling frustrated and giving up on making things better, and so on. Yet there were others who were doing better. Its funny how that goes. One day this 'father' of the family had to go away. He was sad but thought that it was time and the family would be ok. In his place there came a temporary 'father' for the family. This 'father' for the family suddenly started right in to unify the family again. He showed them how wonderful it is to be part of our heavenly Father's family. He showed them how they can look for the good, to see how they were all part of one 'body' and grow. He smiled allot and told them how much the heavenly Father loved them and was just waiting to give them His greatest present for them on earth. The people smiled, looked at each other, saw hope, and prayed for their heavenly Father to pour out His blessing.....the Holy Spirit.

And all the people said AMEN