When I read Luke 18:35-43 about “A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight”, I thought of my dog Sadie.  See,(no pun intended) Sadie will be 18 years old this July. She is a black poodle that has been a wonderful and easy to care for dog. For the past year, Sadie has begun losing her hearing and sight. If I were to make it to 119 years old, I’d probably be doing the same.
The process of observing her lose her vision has been at time comical, but truly sad.  She now runs into walls, gets disoriented when we take her out back or to a new location, and totally misses her treat that is right in front of her.  She gets startled when someone goes to pick her up because not only can Sadie not see you, but she can barely hear anything. We keep thinking that we’ll wake up one day and Sadie will have passed.  But, God must not be done with her yet because she continues to eat and drink like a puppy.
I wonder if Sadie would like to bark out and say like the blind beggar said, “Have mercy on me.  I want to see.”  Well, I can’t talk dog-talk, but when her little body trembles because of the uncomfortableness of her situation, I can just imagine her barking, “Fiddlesticks! I want to see!”
I do look at Sadie and think about the lessons in life I can learn from her.  She walks by faith and not by sight.  She is persistent in living.  When the normalcy of life has gotten her down, she doesn’t give up.
We can all learn from Sadie to never give up in life.  When you feel life has “gone to the dogs”, be relentless and persevere. Most importantly, walk by faith and not by sight.  2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”
Blessings to you, *woof*woof*

April 29 Joshua 20:1-21:45 Luke 18:24-43 Psalm 51:14-19 Proverbs 12:13-14