I have this thing with clean sheets. There’s nothing like crawling into a fluffy bed of freshly washed, still-warm-from-the-iron sheets.
Come to find out, my old-man-of-a-dog likes it too. His name is Jackson
Most people don’t know, but I’ve been on the road to recovery from a long illness, so naturally I’ve been spending a lot of time in my bed. Jackson has proven his faithfulness by taking up residence at the end of my bed. He’s always preferred my bed to his bed, but in the last months his refusal to sleep anywhere but at the foot of my bed has increased.
Today I mustered up the energy to do a deep wash of my sheets. (A deep wash includes all of the blankets, pillow top mattress cover, and shams.) By the time all of the bedding was dry it was fairly late, and by late I mean 10PM. Jackson likes to go to bed around 9PM. Once he’s in bed, there’s pretty much no way to get him to move without the grumpy old man dog coming out. But the bed had to be made and him had to move.
At first, I was able to chase him out of the room only to discover he had taken up residence on the couch. A few minutes into reapplying all of the many layers to the bed, I hear the clip-clop of his paws on the wood floor. Making eye contact will only make him think he has permission to climb aboard, so I just listen. I thought he would probably make his way back to the couch. Instead, I look out of the door of my bedroom to see him standing in the dark office watching me put the sheets on the bed.
He was just standing there. In the dark. Bright eyes. Watching. Waiting.
I laughed so hard.
I have to wonder if that’s how God looks at me. He’s masterfully working on creating little blessings and retreats in my life and I’m just standing there. In the dark. Bright eyes. Watching. Impatiently waiting.
The sad part is, I’d be totally fine to get into bed halfway made without all the added beautiful touches of a freshly pressed top sheet or decorative pillows or the nurse tucked corners. He has to shew me off again and again. “Just wait. Just HOLD ON. Do you want the nurse tuck or not?!” Now, Jackson is just a dog and he’ll never truly understand the beauty and comfort of the nurse tucked corners, but as a human, I know the comfort of the nurse tuck. It is my preference. But waiting is hard when you’re really tired of waiting.
Unfortunately, good enough will never be the best. Good enough will never be God’s best. Which means, waiting is what’s best.
In the end, Jackson refused to wait for me to finish. He climbed up into bed and would not leave. I was able to finish, but it would have been so much easier without him on the bed.
Clearly, he prefers freshly washed, still-warm-from-the-iron sheets too. He just does not understand the joy wigging your toes down into warm sheets firmly tucked at the corners.
If only he had waited…and been human.
