Deena and I have a dog named Molly.  Molly is the quintessential Golden Retriever.  She is a happy-go-lucky dog who loves life, people and other dogs.  She has a separation anxiety when we’re not around, even as some people have when they are alone and afraid. Molly is smart, affectionate, curious, and playful. Watching her zoom around our backyard is very entertaining to us. It’s like she is back in the days when everything was new, back in Eden. She is a good dog, but she can also be naughty at times. This is a tale of Molly and the Garden of Eden.

Our garden of eden

We have an average-size backyard to our house where she plays and which she uses for a toilet.  It’s my job to pick up after her, but sometimes I can be naughty, myself and remiss. The yard is pretty much an open field with trees, flowers, blueberry bushes and so on lining the perimeter of the yard, but there is no fence.  We get rambling rabbits, strolling skunks, itinerate deer, perhaps an occasional bear that crosses our yard at different times each year.  And every day, every blooming day, we have squirrels and chipmunks galore.  Three sides of the yard lead to a neighbor’s house which also does not have a fence.  So, over time, I’ve tried to reinforce to Molly where our property line is.  Sometimes she’s not quite clear on that.  Other times I’m not certain, either.  But, she has a good idea.

I’ve patiently explained to Molly why she must stay in our yard at all times.  We have older neighbors who can only stand and walk with difficulty.  Having a playful seventy-five-pound Golden Retriever charge you at 14.6 feet per second when you are unsteady on your feet cannot end well.  At night we don’t want her to disappear into the darkness where danger may lurk.  During the day, she might run to the front of our house and get hit by a car.  Part of our property is bounded by thorns and another part may be notorious for ticks.  I can’t explain every possible danger to her in a way that she can understand it.  She just has to trust me.  It is precisely because we love her that Deena and I set these boundaries.  Give Molly a ball or frisbee to play with, twenty minutes to sniff around to her heart’s content, and a few opportunities to roll on her back in the grass, kicking up her heels like a young colt and she’s good for the day.

Sometimes, though, she sees something outside our yard that she wants to chase.  Often, it’s a bird or a chipmunk, or another dog, and a battle brews within her soul.  She knows the rules, but . . . During times like that she’ll glance at me to see if I’m watching.  You can tell she’s mentally calculating the consequences of misbehaving if she breaks the rules and follows her nature, her impulses.  If I’m not watching, then she’s gone.  She may believe that if I’m not paying attention to her, then she doesn’t have to pay attention to me.  Sauce for the goose.  If she sees me shaking my head “No!” she’ll run the math one more time through her brain and as often as not, take off and I wind up scolding her for leaving the yard.  After scolding her, she feels bad and she knows there may be consequences for her misbehavior.  So, I have to remind her that while shewas disobedient, I forgive her and we still love her.  

An important caveat

This reminds me of the first few chapters in Genesis in the Bible.  God made Adam and Eve and put them in a Garden where they could enjoy life, like Molly enjoys our back yard.   There was only one rule they had, and it was for their own good.  That rule was to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  God loved them with all His heart and did not want to see them hurt or suffer.

But just as Molly is tempted, Adam and Eve were tempted, too.  Very likely when the serpent called them over to the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve look around to see if anyone was watching, even as Molly does when she is tempted.  They may have mentally calculated the risks in their minds the way Molly does, but they were disobedient and consequences followed.  Not only for mankind, but for nature, other species, even Golden Retrievers.  We cannot perceive the world in all its splendor nor can we hear every sound.  And we certainly don’t live forever.

God forgives us when we are disobedient to Him even as Deena and I forgive Molly when she is disobedient to us.  I can tell she really tries to walk the straight and narrow, but occasionally she falls off the wagon, even as people do.  A stern warning, a hug, and she’s back on track.

For more information on God’s love and forgiveness, please leave a comment.