These past two weeks, I've come to realize something about myself.
I am, in one way, like a dog.
Our ginormous deaf great dane likes to lean up against his people--mostly my dad and sister. He'll lean, or go between their legs, or otherwise touch them to claim them as his people.
Well I've discovered these past two weeks that I do it as well, when people that are not my possessed people are around. Especially ones I don't know very well, even on neutral territory. I have to be touching one of my sibs or Mum or Dad when I'm standing next to them, or I grab one and hug him quick as he walks past. And if we're at home and someone is in the house with us, I definetley always have to know where Daddy is at all times. I never even realized I did all this until we had someone over for lunch after church for a couple of weeks. Now, thinking on it, I see that I do it even when the person that's over are good personal friends of our family. Unless it's my Wingboyz, my Bekah or my Emy (cuz they count as "in my possession") I'm hugging on my people when others are around. I think it's equal parts "claiming" as the Dog Whisperer would say, and having the feeling of protection by this person I'm touching. I asked my sibs if they'd noticed my touchy instincts and they all said, "Oh yeah, you totally do it. Not that I've ever thought about it, cuz I'm kinda used to it, but yeah you way do it". It's all struck me as rather curious, since I've never thought about it before either and I've been doing it for years.
But in our women's Bible study at church jumped out at me--God has a possessive circle too! He's territorial and has a clear sense of what is His and whose He is. Ya know how I know? Just look at how He loves to introduce Himself--"I am the LORD your God", "I am the God of your fathers", "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", and of course "You will be my people and I will be your God". He does it an AWFUL lot. And He says that He is a "jealous" God, which is not a sinful envy, but I think it means more to the extent of what we're talking about here. It's fun to have found a whole new way in which I relate to the LORD, and it is SOOOOO wonderful to know that I am His and He is mine! :D
And on another note...well, don't you just LOVE my God? I've been praying for no rain these past two days, since we have a huge, unreschedulable picture shoot outdoors today. It was supposed to rain just as we were getting started, but I've been asking Him to hold back the rain all day, and so far the chance of rain has gone down to 10% :D Isn't it amazing how God loves us enough to care about these little things? :)