Last Spring, during the end of her semester at college, my daughter, Layla, called her mom and me up one day and exclaimed, “I have found a dog that I really want and I promise to take care of it. You guys will just have to watch him for a few weeks before I get home from college.” We sort of answered her by saying we would think about it. She then interjected with a slight hesitancy saying, “But there is one thing about him.” “What’s that?” we replied. “He’s blind.” she said.

Her mom and I paused somewhat and told her we would sleep on it. The next morning, compassion got the best of us, so we told her “Yes”. There was joy and elation and possibly a few tears coming through her end of the phone.

We started reading up on what to do and how to live with a blind dog as we tried to figure out the best approach for when he arrived. A few days later, after she took him to an appointment with a vet, she informed us that he had to get his eyes removed because there were problems that would only continue to get worse. This surgery is called an enucleation, if you want to look it up. But be warned, it is not for the squeamish.

She got the surgery done and a few days later drove home from Virginia, spent a few days with us, dropped the dog off with us, and drove back to Virginia to finish out her last few weeks of college.

Imagine having a brand new puppy whose eyelids are both sutured shut now living in your house, not knowing you or any of his surroundings. Oh yeah…I didn’t mention that this puppy was a 5 month old lab/great pyrenees mix and already 65 pounds of muscle with huge paws. He still has a lot of growing to do!!

We had to lead him everywhere as he sniffed his way around the house and our yard. We had to teach him to walk on a leash in somewhat of a straight line, but also up and down curbs and around other objects like street signs, other passersby, trash cans and the like. He had to get comfortable knowing that the dogs barking on the other side of fences in people’s yards were not going to run out and try to get him. As I continued to teach him to go on walks, I had to guide him, not only by the leash, but also using the side of my leg to help keep him going in the right direction.

Our daughter came home a few weeks later and has been taking excellent care of him. Currently, he is about 80 pounds and still growing. It is amazing how he can navigate our house, run up and down the stairs, run around the yard, play with our other dog and just live life as normal as a blind dog’s life can be lived.

Oftentimes, I can find myself getting frustrated when he doesn’t walk that straight line I want him to walk in. I feel so bad for him when he runs into something around the house or trips over the shoe that was left in the middle of the room or bangs his head on something outside because he is so eager to greet the neighbor dog across the fence. I can get angry when I forget that he can very easily put his paws up on a counter or table and snag anything very quickly like the 3 pieces of pizza that we left on the counter in the open box while everyone else is eating in the other room.

Even in the midst of those emotions, I or anyone else in the family, quickly realize how much we have grown to love him, so we laugh and watch our blind dog, Murdock, enjoy the pizza, annoy our older (and smaller) dog, Ringo, and jump with the excitement of a small horse when he gets to meet a new person.

I like to think that is how God sees us at times. We don’t always know where we are going. We don’t always walk the line He wants us to walk. We sometimes get tripped up by the smallest things. Often we take a knock on the head because we went the wrong direction and didn’t even see what was coming. But we ultimately know that God is love (1 John 4:8) and continues to love us in spite of those types of things.

Isn’t it equally wonderful to know that God leads us by His Spirit (Galatians 5:18) and we don’t have to go through this life alone, without someone who can see way far out ahead of us? 

There is an enormous amount of patience needed to take care of a blind dog and I believe God is even more so very patient with us, especially when we can’t see Him or know what He is doing. 2 Peter 3:9 says, God is “patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

In John chapter 9, Jesus healed a man who was born blind. In verse 25 of that chapter, after being questioned by some people about the validity of the healing, He said, ‘I do know one thing–that once I was blind but now I can see.” God wants us all to open our eyes and see His son Jesus for who He truly is and to no longer be blind to the ways He is working in our lives to bring us to repentance.

Have you opened your eyes to see who Jesus really is? The apostle Peter exclaimed to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”