Of course you guys know that when I try to do something as simple as repair a fence, it never ends up being simple. Our beagle has been getting out a lot. Yes, this is the same beagle that has been the topic of several other blogs as of late. After finding both of my dogs in the Walmart parking lot, I finally decided that it was time to fix the broken pickets in the fence. You see, our beagle (the same one who yelps from neck pain almost daily) has found a new way to fill his time. He headbutts each and every picket of our fence until he finds one that is weak. He then contorts his head and neck around to be able to chew the bottom of the weakened picket. He will continue to work at destroying the picket until he makes a hole large enough for him to escape. The fact that this behavior is causing the neck pain has yet deterred him. Is there such a thing as an obsessive compulsive dog??? I began this week replacing the broken pickets and let me tell you it is not as easy as it would appear. First, I had to use the back of the hammer to pry the old pickets off of the fence post. Now that doesn't sound too dangerous but let me share a few warnings with you. For instance, when the picket unexpectedly breaks loose, it can cause one to land quite forcefully on one's backside. Also, using one's foot to push the picket down, can cause one to awkwardly straddle a fence post; this is particularly uncomfortable when neighbors are watching you. Of course, these things didn't happen to me... The second step was for me to walk around the other side of the fence to attach the new picket. Once again, you would think that merely going to the other side of the fence really couldn't be too hard- but you would be wrong. For example, at one point there were several pickets in a row that had to be replaced. Once I pried the old pickets off, I thought it would be a lot easier to crawl through this hole in the fence than walk all the way around to the gate. As it turns out, the hole wasn't as big as I though it was. When my son walked by, he asked me what I was doing. I thought it would be too difficult to explain to him that I belatedly realized that I wasn't as flexible as I was in high school and, well, I was stuck. I simply asked him to give me a push and finally made it out of the fence. Fortunately, the only thing that was hurt was my pride. Lastly, I had to screw all of the new pickets back on and I still can't explain how the pickets were absolutely, perfectly, unquestioningly straight when I screwed them in but were rather crooked when I stood back to see what I had done. I know it wasn't my problem- right? Well after working at this project for a few days, I thought I was done. I had just walked by the front door when I saw it- that white tipped tail running through the front yard! Oh no he didn't! Yes, my beagle got out again. I retrieved him from the neighbor's bushes and marched over to the fence to find his latest place of escape. Finally, I found it... umm, I had forgotten to close the back gate! I guess I kind of made it easy for him- didn't I? Then I started to think about my life and about how I thought I had everything all nailed up. Just when it seems like I have it all together- I'm having my quiet time, depending on the Lord for my needs, being accountable to other people, I realize that I have left the back gate open for temptation to walk right in. I think about the words of the Lord's prayer "deliver me from temptation" and I realize how I need God to do that for me too. Today, I am humbled. Today, I realized that even when I try to fix things up myself, I still need God to close the back gate.
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