“The big black Lab galumphs beside me as I walk,

tongue lolling, eyes intent upon the stick.

He’s submissive to my whistle, not my trifling talk,

nor well-wrought reasons, much less rhetoric.

He trots ahead and turns, impatient for the throw,

snaps off a bark, then lumbers halfway back.

He cocks his head and huffs to tell me I’m too slow.

I throw and off he goes, a blur of black.

The world exists for him: the stick, the roadside, me.

We’re here to serve his simple solipsism.

Except for unpredictable caprice, he’s free,

without the humbling need for baptism.

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“To save him from a truck, I choke his collar short.

What earthly link? That noise, this loss of breath?

He punctuates his protest with a snort;

until they meet, no need to ponder death.

What a narrow scope of truth his mind explores:

betrayal, hunger, curiosity.

He knows my mind about as I do yours;

my thoughts as closed to him as yours to me.

How humbling to confront one’s hubris, open-eyed,

to fathom what this big black mongrel feels.

I’d thought that you and I were striding side by side,

when all the time I was galumphing at your heels.”

William J. O’Malley

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 “When I was a child, I used to talk, think, argue like a child–who has

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Moving From the Head to the Heart

• Remember when Bart tries to explain to “Santa’s Little Helper”, how his disobedience is leading to trouble? The dog wants to please, but just can’t understand. He hears only noise, thinks only of food. Imagine the challenge God has in explaining things to you.
• None of us are “striding side by side” with God – just “galumphing at [His] heels.” Have you made peace with this sometimes painful reality?

Abba, I’m no longer thoroughly confused but I still don’t really understand myself or you. I look forward to when I will know you “as you know me now.”

For More: Daily Prayers for Busy People by William J. O’Malley