Shih Tzu In A Rainstorm

Author:
January 08, 2022

 I don’t have a reputation as a patient driver at all. This is changing… more about how later.  Driving gives me anxiety.  I dislike too slow of drivers, too fast of drivers, drivers who are oblivious, drivers that are bullies, drivers that text, drivers that play music too loud, drivers that play it too safe, drivers that are reckless and on and on.  I think I am a good driver and most others are, well, not.   At the same time, I am directionally challenged which calls into question my self-assessment of driving skills because when people aren’t confident where they are going, it’s often a problem for more than just them.  So,  I rely heavily on navigational systems.

One afternoon I was driving with 2 of my adult daughters.  Anabel, was directing me off of her GPS and, true to my personality, I was just familiar enough with the area to question her directions. Have you ever done that? Been given directions or steps but you are pretty sure that you know better and so you are tossed – do what you think or listen to the directions? That was me – hands on the wheel, pulled close to the steering column, sitting very erect, looking back and forth, opening my mouth wanting to say something but remaining quiet. Finally, one of my daughters says to me, “What is wrong? You look like a shih tzu in a rainstorm!” I knew exactly what she meant. We all burst out laughing.
Now unless you have seen a shih tzu in a rainstorm, this is completely an inside joke…let me allow you to step in… A shih tzu is a small energetic, personable dog. Very often these dogs develop what is called “small dog syndrome” which is a behavioral condition where small dogs begin to believe that they are the boss over of the owner. My grandmother, my mother-in law and my sister-in -law each had  shih tzus so I feel fairly qualified to categorize the breed. Anyway, small dog syndrome often causes behavioral issues such as anxiousness, guarding, growling etc. These behaviors are not typical shih tzu behaviors, but due to mistakenly believing that they are in charge, they become issues to be dealt with. Shih tzus will also become untrustworthy of their owners and attempt to be in control.

That’s the shih tzu part. The “in a rainstorm” portion comes from being around several shih tzus in my life that whenever there was a storm, they would sit anxiously, on the verge of panic and whip their heads back and forth in some type of indecisive stress…

“What do I do?”
“Where should I go?”
“Is it safe?”
“Should I move?”
“Hide!”

So there I was, not in any real crisis, chaos  behaving like a shih tzu in a rainstorm. I was trying to listen to the GPS while  mistrusting the instructions. As a result, I was driving in anxiety wondering:

“This exit?”
“What’s the best?”
“Where should I go?”
“What lane?”
“This can’t be right!”

And in that moment it was not just about THAT moment. So much of the time I live as a shih tzu in a rainstorm. I have “small person syndrome” and mistakenly believe that I am the boss. This creates in my life anxiousness and sometimes guarding of my “territory” and growling in life. I often operate in mistrust of my “owner” when He tells me what to do. I question the instructions.  I mistrust if they will actually get me where I want to go. As a result,  I am tossed back and forth, second-guessing everything and having a level of stress that crowds out peace, rest and joy. I live on the verge of panic, frantically looking all around while my mind races with rapid firing thoughts of “what do I do now?  Where should I go?  Is this right?  Am I going to be ok?”
Deep down, aren’t we all wondering if we are going to be ok?  If we are really going to make it?  Are we even headed in the right direction?

In that moment, I stopped the run away train in my head and I decided to trust the directions coming over the GPS and do you know what?  We arrived.  It was a slightly different route that avoided a traffic jam.  The GPS knew something I did not and I made a decision to trust that voice with a lovely English accent and we made it.

You may think this is a far stretch to hear a holy truth from a car ride, a GPS and a family joke but Moses got a message from a burning bush.  I believe Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem..

                   The earth is crammed with heaven and every bush afire
                   with God, but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the
                   rest sit around and pluck blackberries


I am choosing to let the phrase “shih tzu in a rainstorm” be “afire with God” calling me to live differently.  I need Him to infiltrate every moment of my life with heaven. 

I want to recognize when I am mistrusting His voice and living in the anxiety of uncertainty or fear.  I want to exchange my ways of doing  things and thinking things for His.  I want to know where I have “small dog syndrome”  and release it all to a big God.  
I need to hear the reassurance that comes at the end of every trip, “You have arrived at the destination.”

My family members would scoop up the frightened pups and hold them close during the rainstorms.  They calmed them with words spoken in soothing tones.  I need that, too in the middle of storms.

And I can’t be the only one.  

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