(a  5 minute read)  Maggie and Brad are in their early twenties. One morning Maggie, Brad and Corbin, a friend visiting for the weekend, were sitting in the living room. It is almost a daily ritual that they toss the ball to their dog down the hallway in the mornings. They’ve had their dog Sully for almost 10 years. “Now, both of you are responsible for Sully, and you need to figure out how to share caring for him,” their parents told them when they brought Sully home.  To be honest, Maggie and Brad both cared for Sully, but as Maggie typically was up earlier than Brad, she would feed Sully more often. She would walk him more often and oh, Sully needed some medication and that also was administered by Maggie more often. Now the medication was typically wrapped in something yummy, which of course always captured Sully’s attention. You should see those ears standing up and those eyes wide open and the mouth open with the tongue just tipping outside of Sully’s mouth….. Sully always looked adorable.

Back to that one morning; Maggie, Brad and Corbin are sitting in the living room, and Brad and Corbin are chit chatting. Maggie found the ball, and tossed it. Sully delighted ran down the hallway, picked up the ball and headed back. As Sully approached the living room, the first person to cross was Maggie. “Sully…. Here Sully,” Maggie said as she clapped her hands. While Sully is still walking, he glanced at Maggie and passed her and stopped in front of Corbin. Corbin reached and took the ball out of Sully’s mouth, while he was still talking with Brad. Sully’s tail wagged anticipating Corbin’s toss. Nothing happened. Maggie motioned to Corbin to toss her the ball, which he did while still talking. Maggie tossed the ball down the hallway, and Sully pranced after it happy that the ball is on the move.

Maggie clapped and said, “Good boy Sully…. Here Sully” as he came closer. Wouldn’t you know it, Sully glanced at her but continued towards Brad instead, who was still talking. This happened like 4 times in a row, and Maggie cracked up laughing aloud, that Brad and Corbin stopped their conversation and Brad said, “I thought you’d be ticked off by now as Sully is literally ignoring you in spite the fact that you are the one giving him all the attention!”

With a huge smile on her face Maggie said, “Oh, no not ticked off at all. I am actually thankful to Sully as I learn so much from him.” Brad looked at Corbin and with a giggle said, “Wait for it, wait for it, here it comes.”

Maggie proceeded to explain that Sully over the years has learned that what I do for him, whether it be feeding him, caring for his wounds, giving him treats, loving on him as we play, is completely and utterly independent of how he behaves towards me, like now with the ball. Sully does not SEEK my attention because Sully KNOWS I am always here for him. ALWAYS. REGARDLESS. But Sully as a living being craves attention, so why seek it from where it is always available? Sully seeks it from where it is NOT available.

In our lives we see this in examples like; a mom that spends more time raising the children but the children are always seemingly more excited when the dad arrives. A girl giving supreme attention to a boy, but the boy is seeking the girl that is hard to get, and so on.

You know how I always say that I do not seek or crave attention from anyone around me? Well, Sully just taught me that as a living being I do indeed crave and seek attention. Maybe not noticeable to me or others, but indeed it is there. Therefore, I do need to acknowledge it, be aware of it and work with it.

On another front, I do KNOW that my Lord and my Creator has all the ATTENTION given to me ALWAYS and REGARDLESS of what I do or do not do. This fact and this observation this morning with Sully, explains why I don’t really seek and crave the attention of my Maker and Originator, rather I am typically distracted by what is going on around me.

My Father and my Lord, I come to You thankful for the attention that You give me ALWAYS. I will work on dwelling on, be intentional, meditate on, be mindful of this ATTENTION this LOVE this CARING that You have for me always, just as I have it for Sully with no strings attached. I thank You I thank You I thank You and I Love You. Amen.