Maggie tries to play ball and hold on

Maggie the Wonder Dog was pretty excited when I got home tonight.  Between multiple meetings and all the excitement with the cows, I'd had a busy weekend, and she'd had more time in the kitchen than she wanted.  She was ready to play.

After running in circles for a while, she grabbed her favorite ball and brought it to me.  I threw it and she ran as fast as she could to retrieve it.  Ball in her mouth, she hurried back to me, sat down at my feet, and put both paws over the ball.  I tried to get the ball to throw again, but she would not let it go. She finally got most of the ball in her mouth, ran to me as if she wanted to play, but still would not let the ball go.  It's not clear how she can have play time and hold on to the ball at the same time, but that is exactly what she expected.  It's not what happened, though.  I finally got tired of that hopeless game and wandered off.

We've gone back and forth all evening.  She wants to play.  She doesn't want to let the ball go.

I think she must be a lot like me.  I guess she's a lot like most of us, isn't it?  We want to be close with the Master, but we want to do it our way, and without letting go of anything.  It doesn't work too well for Maggie, and it doesn't work too well for us, either, does it?

I want to play with her and I will throw that ball as many times as she wants.  She can run to her heart's content.  It's never going to happen, though, until she lets go of the ball.