by Debra Bruch 

One summer I needed to do some work in the dog yard, potentially dangerous to my dogs. To keep them safe, I tied them to different apple trees in my orchard. They do NOT like to be tied up! However, they handled the situation quite differently. 

Frodo whined a lot and became rather frustrated. Near the end of my project, I noticed that she had wrapped herself tighter and tighter around the tree and was absolutely miserable. She ended up not being able to move hardly at all. Pippin, on the other hand, didn't cry. He played for a while with an apple and branches that were hanging down. It was fun watching him cat-like bat a branch and then try to bite a bobbing apple! Then he lay in the sun and slept. 

When I let them loose, Frodo was tired and unhappy. Pippin was rested and ready to go, go, go! 

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations we don't like. How we handle it, though, makes all the difference! We can be unhappy and frustrated and whine a lot. We can wrap ourselves in our own unhappiness to the point that we can't do anything at all. Or we can play within the boundaries of the unpleasant situation. We can find something positive to help us see it through. Then when it's over, we can go, go, go! 

It seems that when we whine too loudly during unhappy situations, we can't hear God trying to help us. 

Listen! He's probably telling us to chew through the rope!