That Just Who She Is

I ended up with a pup out of Gunner and a fine female named Annie. Now that pairing right there produced some real-deal bird dogs. The kind that make you look smarter than you are when folks are watching. Over time we had four litters, and out of that last one I ended up with a little female I named Elsa Hutton.

Elsa… she’s a looker. Liver-patched, ticked up just right, smaller framed for a German Shorthaired Pointer, but don’t let that fool you. She’s spunky, sharp, and about as people-oriented as they come. Always close. Always checking in. If I stopped walking, she’d be looking up at me like, “We good? You got a plan or we just sightseeing?”

She reminded me a whole lot of Kindle… just without that whole gun-shy episode. And I figured, with her looks and her natural ability, I might just have me a main hunting and guiding dog. So I did what any hopeful dog man does when he’s feeling optimistic and a little bit foolish with his money… I sent her off to a trainer.

Now when I dropped her off, I gave the man the honest rundown. I said, “She’s got a couple quirks.”

That’s a nice way of saying… she’s got some issues.

For one, she’s what is called a “fecal artist” in her kennel, she doesn’t watch her steps.

Yeah… I’ll let you paint that picture in your own mind. Just know it ain’t hanging in any galleries.

Second thing was, she didn’t like to get too far from you. She’d make a little thirty-yard swing out in the field, then come right back like she forgot something in your pocket. I figured it was a confidence thing. Thought, “Man, once she gets out there and figures it out, she’ll stretch on out.”

Three months later I go pick her up. And I’ll tell you what, she looked good. I mean polished. Pointing birds, steady to the shot, retrieving to hand like she’d been doing it her whole life. I was feeling pretty proud… like I had made a solid investment.

But then I asked the trainer, “Is she ranging out any better?” He kind of smiled… that smile that says you’re about to hear something you may not want to hear. He said, “Nope. She still likes to stay close.”

I said, “You think she just needs more confidence?”

And he hit me with something I’ve said a hundred times since. He said,

“Nope, That’s just who she is.”

Now that’ll stop you in your tracks a little bit.

Because we live in a world that thinks everything can be fixed, adjusted, stretched, or forced into something else. But the truth is… some things can be trained, and some things are just wired in.

Elsa wasn’t broken. She was just different.

You ever notice how quick we are to try and turn ourselves into something we were never created to be? Now I am not talking about sinful ways here, those are never Gods desire for us. I am just talking about our personalities and gifts. We look around, see what everybody else is doing, and think, “Well I guess that’s what I’m supposed to be.”

Reminds me of that moment in the Bible when 1 Samuel 17 rolls around and young David is about to face Goliath. King Saul looks at him and says, “Son, you better put this armor on.”

Now that armor looked good. It made sense. It worked for Saul.

But it didn’t fit David.

And I’ve always believed this… if David had walked out there dressed up like Saul, trying to be something he wasn’t, Goliath wouldn’t have been the one hitting the ground.

David said, “I can’t go in these.” And he took them off. Why? Because God didn’t design David to win battles in somebody else’s armor. He designed him to sling a stone with a kind of faith that didn’t make sense to anybody watching.

And friend, we still do the same thing today. We try to wear somebody else’s armor. Try to talk like them, lead like them, live like them. And all it does is weigh us down and mess us up.

Meanwhile, God’s sitting there saying, “I didn’t make you that way.”

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:12 that the body is one but has many members. And then it goes on to say in verse 18 that God arranged those members just how He wanted them.

Not how we wanted or how culture votes. Not how trends or likes decide.

How He chose.

God doesn’t mass-produce His people. He custom builds them.

Some dogs run big and wide. Cover ground like they’re getting paid by the acre.

Some dogs stay close. Check in. Stay connected. Same field, same birds, just a different design.

Elsa may never have been that dog that disappears over the horizon and makes you nervous about where she went… but she was the one that stayed with you.

That matters. Because in the church, not everybody is called to be out front. Not everybody is the mouth. Some folks are hands that steady things. Some are eyes that see what others miss. Some are toes that keep the whole body balanced… and nobody thinks about them until they stub one.

The Bible says the parts that seem weaker are actually indispensable (1 Corinthians 12:22).

That means the ones nobody applauds… heaven takes notice of.

David said in Psalms 139:14, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

That ain’t poetry for a door mat. That’s truth.

God doesn’t waste personalities or tendencies.

And what we call flaws… He often uses as foundations.

Now here’s the part that’ll make you grin a little.

I had a conversation the other day from a great family I know. They said, “We’re looking for a dog… one that stays close, good with people, doesn’t range too far.”

I just kind of leaned back and laughed.

I said, “Well… I believe I got just the one.” You see, Elsa wasn’t wrong… she just wasn’t mine to keep. She was made for somebody else’s field.

And that’ll preach too if you let it. Because sometimes we think we’re failing, when really we’re just planted in the wrong place. And when God moves us where we fit… all of a sudden what looked like a limitation turns into exactly what somebody needed.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand.

That means your design has a destination.

And sometimes the most faithful thing you can do…is just stay close to the Master and walk where He leads.

Some run wide. Some stay close.

Same body. Same mission.

So be who God made you to be and don’t buy any homemade dog art!