Don't Get Skunked

Here's a lesson that rolled in on four legs… and smelled like it crawled straight outta the north end of a horse going south.

Now you sporting dog lovers, you know this much is true: a good dog ought to chase. That’s just wired into ’em. If you get a pup that won’t chase a butterfly, you better not plan on eating many birds come fall. So chasing isn’t the problem… it’s what they choose to chase that’ll get you in trouble.

One spring day I had the dogs out just letting ’em stretch their legs. No real birds in that area, just sunshine, breeze, and a man feeling like life was about as good as it gets. Those dogs were covering ground just like a well-oiled machine, swinging wide, checking back, doing everything right.

Then Gunner disappeared. Now anytime a good dog disappears a little too long, your mind starts writing stories. I figured maybe he’d found a rabbit and locked up on it. But then I heard it… a bark… a growl… and something in my mind said, “This ain’t gonna end well.”

So I eased that direction… and then it hit me. Not a smell… a wall.

A cloud so thick it felt like it had weight to it. I’m talking about a smell that could make a buzzard gag. Right then I knew… somewhere close, a skunk had just had a very bad day… and I was about to join it.

About that time, here comes Gunner. Chest puffed out like he just won a ribbon at the county fair and not a participation one… proudly retrieving what used to be a black-and-white problem. Eyes watering. Nose running. Probably couldn’t see straight… but he was doing exactly what I trained him to do.

Bring it back.

And I’m over here hollering “Whoa! Whoa!” like that’s gonna fix poor decision-making after the fact. I even tried running away, but he thought we were playing some new kind of game called “Smeller's the Feller.”

Finally, I just had to stand there, accept my fate, and when he got close enough, I pinned that stinking thing down with the heel of my boot so he’d let it go.

And let me tell you… even if you don’t take a direct hit from a skunk, just being near it will stay with you. My clothes, my truck, that dog box… it all smelled like Pepe Le Pew for weeks. You don’t just wash that out quick. That kind of scent lingers.

Some times if we think about it we are doing the same thing spiritually that Gunner did physically.

Chasing the wrong thing… taking what someone else has done or said and grabbing hold of it… and then carrying it around like it’s something worth keeping.

The Bible warns us about this kind of stuff.

Ephesians 4:26–27 tells us, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.”

Why? Because if you let anger sit overnight, it don’t just sit… it soaks in. It starts to cling to you. And before long, you ain’t just dealing with anger anymore. Now it’s bitterness… unforgiveness… resentment.

That smell starts getting on everything.

Hebrews 12:15 puts it this way: “Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

Did you catch that? It don’t just affect you but it spreads. Just like that skunk scent got on my truck, my clothes, and anything that got too close.

And here’s the truth

If you hold onto what hurt you, you start to resemble what hurt you.

That’s why Romans 12:19 says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

God’s saying, “You don’t have to carry that. That ain’t your job.”

And then over in Ephesians 4:31–32, it gets even plainer: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger… be put away from you… And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

I remember a wise old man, Willard Owens, once told me,

“Don’t ever get into a peeing contest with a polecat.”

You see, everybody already knows a polecat stinks. You ain’t proving nothing by engaging. The only possible outcome is… now you smell too.

And that’s how it is with folks who don’t care who they hurt… who don’t share your convictions… who operate out of anger or selfishness. If you jump in the ring with them, you don’t come out clean.

So let me ask you something.

Is there a scent you’ve been carrying?

Something somebody said… something they did… something you can’t seem to let go of?

Because if you don’t bury that thing, it’s gonna keep showing up in your words, your attitude, your relationships… even your walk with the Lord.

But here’s the good news. There’s a place for it. Right at the foot of the cross.

You take that anger… that bitterness… that unforgiveness… and you lay it down there. Don’t carry it back or retrieve it like Gunner did.

Leave it!

Because what Jesus did on that cross wasn’t just to forgive you, it was to cleanse you and to free you from carrying things that were never meant to stay on you.

And trust me on this one…

Life smells a whole lot better when you quit picking up what God told you to put down.