Evidence in a Smiling Dog by Rod Schaubroeck

[John Becker]

I thought this was worth sharing!

The Evidence in a Smiling Dog

“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” – Matthew 7:16

I read an article about a baseball player, and a photograph accompanied the article. In the photo, Tim Lincecum is holding his French bulldog, Cy,
and ole Cy actually looks like he is smiling and has entered doggie
heaven. I don’t remember much about that article, but I kept thinking
about that ridiculously happy dog. It seems to me that any dog that
contented and that happy has probably got a pretty good person as his
master. This evening, Melanie and I took a walk in the Kedong valley of
Kenya. The jagged peaks of Mt. Longonot and Mt. Suswa provided the
silhouette foreground for the pink, orange and red clouds which ultimately made
way for the purple and violet clouds as dusk settled in the valley. All
the while, my Great Dane, Zeus, chased after dik dik and rabbits with joyful
futility. It was all so… perfect. Then the same feeling overtook me
as when I recalled the smiling dog: this panorama is proof of a good
person. Whoever made this is good.

Each one of us is constantly leaving a trail of forensic evidence behind us testifying to who we are. As leaders, this should matter to us for two
reasons. First, we should consider, what kind of trail are we leaving in
our own wake? Does the evidence we leave behind point towards selfishness
and immaturity, or does it indicate that a person of integrity has been
here? What does our family look like? What is the quality of our
work? What is the status of the relationships we have been involved
in? If people can’t see us but only the things we have touched, what
conclusions would they draw? A second reason to consider the evidentiary
trail is to discern what is going on in the lives of those we lead.
Self-revelation can be helpful but is necessarily subjective. A more full
understanding of what is going on in a person’s life can be obtained by looking
at the “trail” left behind. As leaders, we are not called to condemn, but
we are called to discern. May the Lord grant you spiritual wisdom
as you seek to understand your people and your work environment and as you seek
to leave some happy trails of evidence behind you.