Rudy, Shake

Too much honey is bad for you, and so is trying to win too much praise.

“MAKE A WISH, LIAM,” ANDREA SAID, holding her son’s PAW Patrol–themed cake. “And then you can blow out your candles.”

Her little boy’s face beamed with joy as he huffed and puffed, blowing out each candle one at a time.

“I’m four, Mama!” he said proudly, holding up three fingers.

Setting the cake down, Andrea kissed his head and showed him how to hold up four fingers.

“I’m four!” he repeated, showing the proper number of fingers to his friends who had come to celebrate with him.

The group of ten, six boys and four girls, talked loudly, their mouths full of blue and white cake. The topic of conversation revolved around dogs, both fictional and real.

After each one declared their favorite PAW Patrol dog, they took turns talking about their own dogs, or lack thereof.

“I don’t have a dog,” Claire said, her bottom lip sticking out in a perfect pout.

“You can pet Rudy,” Liam said, pointing to his dog who sat in rapt attention beside him. Rudy was eyeing every bite of cake Liam put in his mouth.

As Andrea walked into the kitchen to put away the trays of chicken nuggets and fruit, she heard Liam add, “Rudy can do lots of tricks. Watch. Rudy, shake!”

Cheering erupted from the dining room.

“Rudy is in doggie heaven,” she chuckled, knowing how much their pound pup adored attention.

Ever since they had brought him home from the SPCA, he had lived for their praise. If you weren’t paying attention to the forty-pound dog, he would paw, jump, or bark to get you focused on him. It was both endearing and annoying—especially when Liam was napping.

“Rudy, shake!” another little voice commanded.

“Shake me, Rudy!” came another.

A round of giggles and squeals were followed by more commands to shake, sit, lie down, and dance!

Andrea laughed.

“I’m not sure Rudy knows the dance command, guys,” she said, walking back into the dining room.

She came to an abrupt halt. Rudy’s face, whiskers, nose, the tips of his ears, and his foot were decorated with blue splotches. Is Rudy morphing into a Smurf? Andrea wondered. The answer quickly became apparent as she watched a little hand reach down to shake Rudy’s paw, before rewarding the dog with a piece of cake.

A reward Rudy was ecstatic to receive over and over again.

“Oh, Rudy,” Andrea said with a sigh. “What a mess you are. And how sick you are surely going to be. It’s time for you to leave the party.”

Rudy was less than pleased when Andrea escorted him out of the room.

Of course, later than evening, Andrea was less than pleased to have to clean up the aftereffects of Rudy’s impromptu trick demonstration.

“You just couldn’t say no to the attention . . . or the cake, could ya, boy?”

PAWS & PONDER . . .

Too much of a good thing. How can trying to earn too much praise be bad for you? What do you risk when you allow the praise and attention of others to become the driving force of your life? Is there an area in your life right now where you are trying to please others more than God? Would you take a moment to confess that to the Lord?

Paws & Pray

Lord, how easy it is to seek the praise and attention of others above all else, even making myself sick in the process. Forgive me for being more concerned with what others say about me than with what you say about me. Help me to be content with who I am in you.

Smiling faces make you happy, and good news makes you feel better.