Rockfest Day 27 - The Old "It's a Squirrel Fake-Out"

One of the things that I look forward to at the end of a long day is to sit and relax on my front deck and watch the evening roll over my neighborhood. I enjoy greeting my neighbors as they pass by. My dog Gracie loves to sit and do this with me. She enjoys greeting the neighborhood dogs and cats as they pass by.

Unfortunately Gracie does not always come out with me when I first go to the deck. She sits inside and watches me. She wants to come out but fear stops her. I have a bird, Captain Morgan, a small little Sun Conure whose cage is right next to the door. And he guards that door like he was a hawk.

When Captain’s cage door is open, Gracie is afraid to pass in front of the cage for fear that she will get dive bombed. Nothing happens to her, she’s much bigger, but she doesn’t realize that. It’s the thought of the possible attack that keeps her at bay. So, I have to help Gracie get to where she wants to go – namely past the Captain and out on to the patio.

Gracie loves squirrels – or rather loves to bark at squirrels. She’d have no idea what to think or do if she ever actually caught one. So to coax her outside I whisper in a loud and excited voice, “Gracie! It’s a squirrel!” She comes running and growling out the door and onto the deck every time. She is so happy and excited and looking for the squirrel she forgot all about Captain Morgan. By the time she realizes where she is, the thing she was most afraid of is in her rear view.

It's a geat trick for helping Gracie past her fear.  I wonder if God has ever pulled the old It’s-a-squirrel fake-out on me? And as I reflect back I think yes, indeed He has. I can see times in my life when fear or worry or in ability was stopping me from reaching a goal. So to get me to the place that God wanted me to be and a place that I wanted to be he had to use a little head fake on me to get me past my fear.

For example, I really have a hard time talking to strangers. I love talking to people and learning about them but I just have never felt comfortable doing that with people I don’t know. I will talk you up a blue streak if I know you but in a group of new people I’ll just sit there quietly next to the queso dip, thank you very much.

Funny then I would find myself in the retail job of shoe sales at one of the premier department stores known for its shoe department. In that job if I don’t strike up conversations with strangers all day every day I don’t sell shoes and I go hungry. After more than a year of that I can make conversation with anybody.

Before I know what has been happening my fear of talking to people that I don’t know is in my rear view.  Before I realize the bait - great job, good money - for what it is (bait); the switch - getting over my fear of strangers - has already taken place.  Now, it’s still not something I love to do but I don’t hate it or fear it. Without just telling me to get over it, God gave me a little misdirection and lead me straight past it until I was comfortable with it.

Like Gracie getting past Captain, my fear was never something that was going to hurt me and certainly I was much bigger than it but I just needed a little coaxing to get me to where I wanted to go. And speaking of Gracie, wouldn’t you know it, by the time she reached the patio there was no bait and switch, there really was a squirrel down below.

Not sure who got more faked out on that one, Gracie or me.
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