Looking in the Mirror

To work on Bison’s previously mentioned klutziness and jumping problem, we enrolled in an agility class. The class is at a club that we have never trained with before. The first night, Bison was very distracted in general with the new place, new instructor, new dogs... One distraction though became a lesson to me.

The club has a few places where they have placed mirrors on the wall. They are about 18 inches by 4 feet tall. Each time we walked by the mirror, Bison stopped to look at himself in the mirror. The first couple of times he did it, it was cute like he was saying, “Who’s that handsome guy”. But after five or six times, it was annoying. It was to the point that he wasn’t able to do the obstacles because he was so focused on himself.

It hit me that I am like that sometimes too. I focus so much on myself that the obstacles of life trip me up. This concept reminds me of an acrostic for “Joy” that I learned as a child, Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. This is based on Matthew 22:36-40 “ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Focus on loving God first of all, then others, then yourself. When in times of trouble it is very easy to reverse that and just like Bison, focus so much on myself that the rest of the world just stops. Its time to put away the mirror.