Molly has devised another way of communicating her wants. She used to be demonstrative, making her wants known by her body language. Her tail could speak volumes!  She used it to tell me when she was pleased or displeased with me, when she was happy or depressed.

For example, Molly is terrified of children. As the only “child” of an elderly “mother”, she had no opportunity to socialise with little ones when she was a puppy. Her first encounter was with young children at a creche, when they lunged at her in their eagerness to get acquainted, but left her traumatised for life.

Unfortunately, not long ago, she had a chance encounter with two lively little boys at a friend’s house that she couldn’t escape. Her tail clearly demonstrated her  “Post Traumatic Distress Disorder”, drooping sadly and immovably for three days after her traumatic experience.

Nowadays, as she gets older, her way of communicating is more subtle. We are so attuned to one another that her look tells me what she wants. Most of the time, I anticipate her wants, but there are times when I need to interpret her look by trial and error.

She uses not only her gaze but something even more intimate to talk to me. She uses sound! Let me explain.

At night, after we have been outside for toilet purposes, she retires to her bed in the lounge while I prepare for bed. Showered and refreshed, I call her to the bedroom but she ignores me for her own reasons while I climb under the covers for a few quiet moments before sleep. After a short while, I hear the softest of sounds from her other bed next to mine. Sure enough, I see her little face, her soft brown eyes looking up at me, and hear her eager, unspoken request, “Please pick me up!”

After our trip outside, when we wake in the morning, she again  retires to the bedroom and I to the lounge, knowing full well that she will soon want to be on my lap. While it’s still dark, and I am engaged in writing, the same soft sound alerts me to the same request, “Please pick me up!” Before I see her, I am instinctively aware of her presence and her want.

Despite my increasing deafness,  my ears are attuned to her. I hear her and I respond. From the moment she is beside me on my chair, she doesn’t move. She lies so quietly that only her warm body next to me keeps me aware of her presence.

How like the Lord’s response to us!

1 Peter 3:12 NIV
[12] “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…”

Sometimes we scream, not because God is deaf but because our need is so desperate. Other times we whisper, we sigh, or we groan, sounds so quiet that only God hears them. Whatever the volume, God hears because His ears are attuned to our cry. Sometimes, only tears are left but He still hears the fall of a silent tear.

How blessed we are to have a Father whose love for us is so tender that He hears us even before we call. How better to express the wonder of prayer than the old hymn…

1. Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
unuttered or expressed,
the motion of a hidden fire
that trembles in the breast.

2 Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
the falling of a tear,
the upward glancing of an eye,
when none but God is near.

3 Prayer is the simplest form of speech
that infant lips can try;
prayer the sublimest strains that reach
the Majesty on high.

4 Prayer is the contrite sinners’ voice,
returning from their way,
while angels in their songs rejoice
and cry, “Behold, they pray!”

5 Prayer is the Christians’ vital breath,
the Christians’ native air;
their watchword at the gates of death;
they enter heav’n with prayer.

6 O Thou, by whom we come to God,
the Life, the Truth, the Way;
the path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray!

(Author: James Montgomery
James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854)

(Source: www.hymnary.org)