Just me and Donkey

I'm sitting in my office spending time with my friend Donkey. For anyone who hasn't worked in the self-storage business, it's hard to grasp the value of having a friend to share your day with. I usually arrive at work about 8:45am and depart shortly after 6pm. Yep, that nine full hours to spend alone in my head. Occasionally customers come to visit me. Perhaps they're just being friendly for the nine seconds it takes for me to process their payments, but I consider it a visit. In self-storage, you take what you can get. Donkey sits in my window sill and keeps me on track. He's about three inches tall, has a red bandana, and if you flip his head back a chalky tablet that resembles candy pops out. Some would think that he's just a Pez dispenser, but I know better.

I used to work at an inner-city outreach facility that serves as one of our Healing Place Church campuses. The Baton Rouge Dream Center has all types of programs, activities, services and some of the coolest people you'll ever meet. The choice to leave there and come here was difficult, but I knew God was moving me. The reason I mention the Dream Center is because that's where Donkey and I met. My friend Emily knows that I love donkeys. (That's right, donkeys. You wanna make something of it? Sorry...I digress.) So, because of my affinity for these precious beasts of burdens, one day she presented my with my very own furry, Pez dispensing donkey. I was immediately in love. I kept Donkey on my desk along with another friend, Sheep. Sheep is much bigger than donkey but also furry. Sorry folks, no Pez with Sheep, which is probably good because they'd be the size of matchbox cars; that's a lot of chalk.

(A sad story about Sheep: one Sunday afternoon one of our DC kids got hurt on the playground and had to go to the hospital. While we were waiting for parents to arrive, I allowed said child to hold Sheep until Momma got there. Both child and Sheep left. Only the child came back [Cue sad music]. I now have a picture of a sheep in my office but its just not the same.)

The reason I've taken you down this rambling road is to tell you why I have to spend my time with Donkey. The reason Sheep and Donkey lived on my desk is because they were visual reminders of my nature. Sheep are fluffy and lovable and quietly kind. They're submissive, gentle and they follow the shepherd without question. That's how I would like to be.

Donkeys, on the other hand, are unruly, stubborn and hard to train. They are more apt to do their own thing than whatever their master wants, and they're frequently making noise when everyone around them wishes they'd be quiet. That's more like me than I care to admit.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be a sheep instead of a donkey. I try to hang out with sheep and emulate them, I read books and listen to podcasts and go to church and pray that God changes me. Still, more often than not, I'm a donkey.

With Sheep gone, it's just me and Donkey left. I wonder if God's trying to tell me something.

Any thoughts? I'd love for you to share your own inner-donkey story...if only to make me feel better. Be blessed and be free, in Jesus' name. All glory to God!