Dog Days of Summer

Several years ago--it was actually a decade ago when we lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland--we had a black Labrador Retriever, named Max, as a member of our family. Most summer days when no one was to be home we would tie Max to a tree in our backyard or to a post on our deck. His lead was 100 feet long, so he was able to freely move around. And during the heat of the day he was free to go under the deck to enjoy the shade or lie under one of the many shade trees in our heavily wooded backyard.

On one summer day Max decided that he didn’t want to take a nap under a tree or under the deck, but on the sofa in the family room. So Max climbed up and opened the patio door and proceeded to enter the house. Unfortunately, Max had somehow wrapped his lead around the legs and wheels of the barbeque grill on the deck. Therefore, as Max tried entering the house, the barbeque grill followed him until it reached the raised sill of the door. Unable to continue rolling across the sill and Max unable to reach the sofa, he pulled the grill until it toppled over and he was able to drag it completely into the house.

When my oldest son arrived home, he found Max laying on the family room sofa sound asleep on his back, enjoying the cool from the air conditioner. Obviously, exhausted from the ordeal of getting into the house, Max was snoring so hard that he never realized someone had come into the house. What a sight; the dog asleep on the sofa, the barbeque grill turned over in the floor, and the carpet covered with charcoal soot and old grease.

The phrase Dog Days or "the dog days of summer", was used by the Greeks and the ancient Romans to refer to the hottest days of summer. The ancient Romans would sacrifice a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days of Summer to appease the rage of Sirius (the “Dog Star”), believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. Despite the fact that was not an expert in ancient mythology; having to clean up all of Max’s mess by his self, my son felt like sacrificing that black dog, on that hot summer day to appease his rage.

There are times when we are thrust into situations where we find ourselves having to clean up someone else’s mess. For instance, parents seem to always have to clean up their children’s mess--from an infant’s dirty diapers to a toddler’s toys out of place to a teenager’s pregnancy to a young adult who has broken the law. Siblings throughout their lives find themselves having to cleaning up each other's mess--of course some siblings seem to make more messes than others. Spouses have to clean up each other mess as well--one refuses to curb their spending or one fails to keep their vow to be faithful. Pastors as well are often forced to clean up messes that have resulted from parishioners refusing to live by the word of God or sound pastoral advice.

As frustrating and preventable as cleaning up someone else’s mess might be, and as much as you would like to throw them to the dogs, don’t forget the times that someone lovingly chose to clean up the messes you made in your life. Also remember that, today, you may be cleaning up someone else’s mess, but tomorrow someone might have to clean up a major mess you have made.

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.--Galatians 6:1-3 (NLT)