“You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother” (Deuteronomy 22:1 ESV).
I’ve never been outdoorsy. I’m not a fan of bugs or wind…. or exercise… So you know the quarantine has gone on too long when I actually request to go out! Ryan and I have taken to walking around our neighborhood. One neighbor has a very cute small dog named Barkley. The first time I met Barkley was at my mailbox. It was summer and I was wearing a skirt when all of a sudden I felt something very wet on my leg. Looking down I saw a little dog licking me! Thankfully the neighbor kids were in their yard so they called the dog back over. This routine, in one form or another, has happened ever since.
There is however, a problem with Barkley being so friendly. She tends to follow us on our walks. The neighbors have a fence only around part of their yard and so Barkley will see us and beeline it over. Most of the time she returns home without much trouble. Yesterday was different. We went on our walk as usual. We heard the kids playing in the backyard and sure enough here comes Barkley. We decided to ignore her and maybe she would go back home. So we kept going… the further we walked down the next road the further Barkley went ahead of us. Ryan wanted to pick her up, which he’s done before, and take her back quoting the scripture above. But I stubbornly refused and said, “except that thou neighbor refuse to build a complete fence.” Although annoyed, I knew I was just doing a lot of big talk and that we should return the dog. I didn’t want her to get lost or hurt and now she was out of sight, not listening to my calls to come back. We turned around and walked quickly back to the neighbors to tell her where the dog had gone.
We continued walking. We could have chosen to go on to the next road but I felt responsible since the dog had seen and followed us. We turned down the same road and our neighbor drove by on the hunt. She went over a small hill down towards the cul-de-sac. At that moment, Barkley came shooting out toward us from the side. I knelt and petted her while Ryan flagged our neighbor down when she drove back our way. All ended well except that Barkley knew she was in trouble!
It is never a good idea to ignore doing the right thing even when you think you are justified in doing so. “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear [or respect] of the Almighty” (Job 6:14 ESV). I’m glad Barkley is safe and when she gets out the next time, we will, with God's help, once again make sure she gets home.