A Faithful Servant

Sadie.  A lot of people’s faces may come to mind when you hear that name, but in our little farming family, it comes a different face… the fuzzy haired, black and white Australian Shepherd Cattle Dog.   Technically, her master is our loving Uncle David, but I think everyone that knows her thinks in some way that she belongs to them (I know I do).  She doesn’t meet a stranger, and is with us wherever we go.  We leave from our farm land in Phil Campbell to drive to Guin to bale hay, Sadie is on the back of the truck the whole time.  In the hay fields with us, working cattle with us, going to the store, and going to church.  People notice her, and want to know how we keep her sitting on the back of that flatbed work truck all the time.  She doesn’t wear a leash, and we don’t tie her down. She’s never been formally taught to do it, Uncle David has spent so much time with her that she learned that is the best place to be…in the presence of her master.  Sometimes we have to tell her to “load up”, but she’s been with us so many times that she will just jump in the truck because she knows the process.  She goes to church up the road from the farm every Sunday, even walking up there if she misses a ride.  She is a faithful companion, and a faithful servant to her master.  She doesn’t do much in the way of a cattle dog, but her presence there is always a comfort.  She greets us with a “smile” and is always happy to see us…even running wide open across a hay field in the Alabama heat when she sees another family member drive up.  She doesn’t even seem to mind when our 3 kids pile up near her rubbing her and patting on her with sometimes more force than they ought to.  Sadie makes me think about how much better I could be serving my Master and my family.  Yes, she’s a dog…she has no real responsibility, doesn’t have to worry how the power bill will get paid, or about where her next meal will come from…but she’s doing what she was created to do…serving her master.  Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds.  They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Aren’t you more valuable than they are?”  I could change that wording to “Look at Sadie”…her master provides for her and takes care of her and she doesn’t worry…she does her job, working hard on the farm, all while loving and staying close to her master.  How much more peaceful could our lives be if we loved and served our Master in everything we do?  To talk with Him, read His Word, and stay close to him…THIS is what we were created to do!  The more time we spend with our Master, the more we learn the process of what we are supposed to do. We won’t have to be told to “load up”, we know the process of staying close to our Master.  He is always with us, and will never leave us.  “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5-6