Basic Obedience

   I'm taking my Border Collie, Grace, to Basic Obedience classes. My husband has mowed a walking path around our six acre pasture. When I walk Grace, she literally pulls me around, occasionally leaping into the air to catch a flying insect, while almost pulling my arm out of its' socket.
   Something had to be done before I got hurt so I looked into Obedience classes.  I was so nervous before the first class, afraid that Grace would not be obedient at all. But she was so good, and all because of a little metal collar with prongs called a choke collar. It supposedly mimics a mother's tug on the neck when they are puppies.
   Grace is a different dog with her choke collar on. We start off walking; she starts to pull me; I stop; she feels the tug; she walks beside me. It's nothing short of amazing.
   That's sort of how the Holy Spirit works with me. I start to do something I shouldn't do and I feel a tug, kind of like a nudge in my heart.  The more of these nudges I get then the more I learn that it is best to walk in God's way and not my own. I give thanks to the Holy Spirit for teaching me Basic Obedience. It's nothing short of amazing.
"If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn't looking for Him and doesn't recognize Him. But you know Him because He lives with you now and later will be in you", John 14:15-17.