The Sliding Dog

Max Lucado is a really cool Christian writer/speaker who once gave this story about a dog:

There was a family whose dog was pregnant with pups. One day, while the dog was lying on the lawn, the patriarch of the family, in a tragic accident, ran over the dog’s back legs with a lawnmower. They rushed the dog to the emergency room, where a veterinarian was able to save the pet’s life. Both mother and puppies were fine, but the dog had lost both of its hind legs. A couple of weeks went by and the dog’s wounds healed, allowing her to begin moving around again. Despite not having the use of her hind legs, she would step forward on her two front legs, and slide the rest of her body forward. A few weeks after that, the dog gave birth to a healthy litter of puppies. But as the puppies began to move around on their own, the family discovered something strange. Instead of walking on all fours like regular dogs do, the puppies mimicked their mother, and stepped forward with their hind legs, sliding the rest of their bodies behind them.

You see, when it came to walking, the only examples that those puppies ever had was their mother. Had she given up and decided never to walk again, there’s a very good chance that the puppies may have never walked at all. I bet she didn’t even know that her pups were learning to walk by mimicking her. She probably just thought of it as a way for her to get around, not a lesson to be thought to her offspring. But they learned it any how.

We need to understand that we don’t live in a vacuum. Every single thing you do affects the people around you. There are people who admire you and look up to you. Many of them are the people that you don’t expect. Sometimes, they are people who you don’t even know exist. There are some things in life for which you may be the only example they have. Your sphere of influence extends far further than you would ever expect. You may speak a certain way to someone, give up on a particular struggle, act in a particular manner and think that no one cares. That’s a lie. There is always someone who cares, and there is always someone who is going to follow you. Making a difference doesn’t only take effect when you do things for everyone to see. What you do when you think that no one is looking matters too.

I know for a fact that I’ve been influenced by people that I don’t know and people who I’ve never met, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve influenced others. In everything you do, think of the people who you are influencing, not just yourselves. You may not believe it, but there is someone, somewhere who wishes that they could be just like you.

Until tomorrow guys. Bye!!!