Misty

 "A puppy!" I was excited when my daughter brought home this cute little ball of fur!   We had great fun choosing a name for him,  and finally settled on "Misty".  I must say the first two weeks went very well. By the start of the third week,  he could climb out of his

box and everything we put him in. He was growing at an alarming rate!   We excused his chewing with,  "all puppies chew", and "he's just teething".

As time went on, we decided Misty was a better out- side dog than an inside dog. He didn't seem to mind at all. he liked the new challenge of the outdoors. One day when my husband planted flowers,  Misty watched with great interest. A few hours later, Misty had dug up all the newly planted flowers.

At first, Misty slept in the garage at night. But, this was not working out.   Our next purchase was a large, brand new doghouse because, by this time, Misty was a rather large dog!   I breathed a sign of relief, thinking our problems were over.   Little did I know they were just beginning!

One morning I woke up and thought the doghouse looked a little strange.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I went out to get a closer look and, sure enough, Misty had ripped the front of his doghouse off, piece by piece, during the night.   "Maybe, he didn't like the feeling of being closed in", we joked.   I was really having second thoughts about this dog.

A few weeks later we woke up to find the ground covered with little pieces of wood that had been the side of the doghouse.   He had also removed many of the shingles from the roof, and it wasn't long until Misty had started on the other side as well.   I was at the sink when I saw him rip off the first piece of wood and, by the time I had reached him, he had torn off a second piece.   We should have named the dog "Jaws"!   How could anything be so dumb as to destroy his own home?

Proverbs 14:1 came to mind:   "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands."   Would a woman really tear down her house?  Have you ever seen a women tear apart her husband with angry, bitter words?  Maybe, like me, you've been in a store and heard a mother verbally destroy a child's spirit. I'm not speaking of discipline that's done lovingly to teach and correct. I'm speaking of the destructive words that demean and destroy a child.

How I pray that we will say with the Psalmist:  "Set a watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips"  Psalm 141:3.    May God help us to continue to build and not destroy our homes and families.

How is Misty?   Well, that's another story.