Willa's Weakness

My German shepherd has an embarrassing problem, one I hesitate to 
tell you about. Willa has a weakness for eating dog poop. Yes, it's 
disgusting and I've tried everything to help her break this bad habit.

For years we had two dogs, Emma the beagle and Willa the shepherd. I 
tried to keep temptation scooped but some days busyness prevented supervision. I researched and found that it's a common problem called coprophagia. (We try to sanitize "conditions" by giving them names.) 
But I was relieved to find pet stores sell treatments for it. I bought pills 
that promised to deter Willa, hoping to cure the problem. 

One day I happened to look out the window just as she grabbed a quick 
snack. I ran out and whacked her on the rear with a newspaper. All my 
efforts to alter her behavior had failed.

Then I realized my oversight. The supplement is supposed to make the

poo taste bad (as if it didn't already) so the dog no longer wants to eat  

it. Giving Willa the pills did nothing to change the taste of Emma's poo or Willa's attitude toward it. I should have fed Emma the pills.     

This example illuminates a spiritual truth as well. Do we battle our 
problems by attacking symptoms rather than cause? That won't cure our ongoing issues anymore than it did for Willa. To change the effects 
we must first discern and change the cause.   

Romans 12:2 says transformation grows from a renewed mind. 
Correcting how we think about something is the first step to true and 
lasting change.

A new attitude about cookies, cake, pop and pizza will bring us closer to 
a healthy weight than all the diets in existence. If we never challenge 
our mindsets about "good food" we'll never change the foods we go to 
when we wander away from the diet.    

More importantly, we need to renew the mindsets that cause us to 
decline our invitation from God. It must sadden our heavenly Father 
to watch His children miss out on an abundant, creative life. But that 
can change starting today. No, we can't do it on our own, believe me 
I've tried. Thank God, Jesus is always ready to lend a helping hand.