Simply Juliana: Gracie and the IQ Test

Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely. 2 Corinthians 10:12 Amplified Bible

     Well since we have been on the subject of Gracie for two days now, I might as well “fess” up, AGAIN! I gave Gracie an IQ test. Now, you may ask, “Why would anyone in the world give a dog an IQ test??” A week ago I would have asked the same thing! But it all goes back to the thought life! Funny how that “thought life” takes you in so many directions!! I’ll give you some history on Gracie and it will help you understand a little more.
     One night, I couldn’t sleep and I decided to get up and pray. This always relaxes me and I get something accomplished, too so I “kill two birds with one stone”. This is just a saying! I could never kill a bird. As I was praying I began to ask God for something. We had babysat my daughters chihuahua while she was studying and taking finals before she graduated. I have never been a fan of Chihuahuas and I certainly didn’t expect to “fall in love” and bond with Daisy, but it happened! Oh, she was so sweet and just loved me and wanted to be with me every step. She wanted me constantly and her little expressions were so cute! She is smart and neverrrr gives the first problem! I swear, she is part human! I knew my daughter would be coming home very soon because she was graduating from college and would want her dog back. I was in trouble! As I prayed and told God all about “the problem”. I began to quote the scriptures on “giving us the desires of our hearts” and various other ones for backup! I began to pray, really hard, over my husband because he will agree to one dog, but God had to perform a miracle for him to agree to three!! Daisy and my daughter would be living with us until medical school comes knocking! We would have Molly and Daisy and this would mean we would have Gracie! I had already named her. Well since faith could move mountains, it can certainly move my husband!!
     I rushed to the computer and began to search the local classifieds. I began to look….NOTHING! Not one chihuahua that looked healthy or well kept! I searched another classified online and again, NOTHING! For three days this went on! I don’t give up easy!

Finally, going into the fourth day I decided I would look once more. To tell the truth, at this point I was getting discouraged. I go onto the first site, and within five minutes, there she was! I called my daughter and told her to look and tell me what she thought. “Oh, yeah! She is adorable!” That did it! I had my Gracie within the next 24 hours. My husband gave in easily and I knew that it had to be a sign from God! Sure enough this was the right dog!!
I met the breeder at a Wal-Mart in another town and picked her up. The first day she clung to me. She was skittish of the Molly and Daisy, but after all, it was like the first day of school. You don’t know anybody and so you kind of stay to yourself. The second day, she was gung-ho and ready for the world. She had found her home! I was thrilled! She was everything I wanted. She was loving, sweet, had a precious personality, and took to everyone and everyone took to her!
     As the months rolled on she didn’t “develop” as I thought she should. She wasn’t fetching and doing various other things Daisy had done. I watched her intently (yes, I am one of those mothers). I compared her to Daisy and where she was in development at her age and where Daisy was at that same age. Then I began to become concerned about her. Then I told myself, “I didn’t get Gracie to go to Harvard, I got her to love me and that is what she has done!” But, still I held some concerns.
     One day as the kids were at home with me I googled “IQ test for dogs”. I was amazed, but they do exist. My two grown children and I decided to try it. I read the directions, my daughter set up the various tests, and my son watched the stop watch. Then we got Gracie! She had no idea what she was in for!! There were six sections and we went through each. I kept the score, my son would announce what she made according to the time it took her to do each test. Then the moment of truth arrived! I had to add up the score and see what category Gracie fell into. I am happy to announce the category said, “Your dog is smart, just not headed to Harvard!” ” Well, what nut sends their dog to Harvard anyway?” I asked myself! I am happy! Gracie was smarter than I gave her credit for. We gave the IQ test to the other dogs and Daisy scored a little higher but was still within range of the other two. They were all smart!!
     I began to think about all this. I had myself convinced something was wrong. That she was cognitively about 4 months behind. Would she ever catch up? Had I done too much for her and therefore she couldn’t do for herself? Could I cause her IQ to become higher? That was going to be my next google search! Then I began to think what had caused me to even think about any of this to begin with. I found the source rather quickly! I had compared Daisy and Gracie. Daisy’s personality is very different. She is a go getter! She is feisty and all over the place doing cute things. Gracie is laid back, easy going, and just wants to sit in your lap and love you! This is great because that is exactly what I had wanted her to be! I unknowingly compared their personalities, not their capabilities. Because Gracie wasn’t as expressive and didn’t do all the things Daisy did when she did them, I decided that maybe she just wasn’t as smart. I was wrong and I had developed a wrong opinion of Gracie in the process!
     Let us go back to our scripture. The Bible says it is unwise and shows immaturity on our part to compare people! It is even known as “the sin of comparison”! It says, in Texas terms, you have some gall to compare others to yourself or even others to others among you! You aren’t wise and doing this shows how lacking in understanding you are!
     How many times do we do this to people! As a retired teacher I can tell you, you NEVER want to in any way make a child feel “less” simply because he learns differently or is not learning at the rate another is. What is important is that they eventually really ’get it’! Even in the Bible we see where parents got in trouble for comparing children. Joseph was his father’s favorite and it made havoc in the family with the other brothers. Isaac blessed the wrong son due to Rebeka’s favoritism to Jacob! We know the heartache that followed with these brothers due to it! Again, comparison and favoritism proved to be unwise!
     We can do this as Christians, too. We can lose so much knowledge and revelation because we compare ministers and “speakers”. I used to go to a church that if you didn’t say a particular minister said it, even though the verse in the Bible was being cited, they would not believe it! You had to “name drop” before they would even consider it to be correct and of God! I was in shock!! Even Paul said Apollos may plant and he may water, but it is GOD that gives growth to the seed!! He was saying this because the people were COMPARING Paul’s seemingly lack of oratory skills to Apollos’ incredible oratory skills! One group was saying, “Well, we follow Apollos” and the other group said, “Well, we like Paul!” Paul was reprimanding them for this and telling them they were unwise and without understanding!!
     We don’t want to be like these unwise people. Don’t compare ministers or people and their rate of growth. There is a quote I found one day and this is what it says, “Criticizing others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.” That is what comparison does. It criticizes one person and lifts another up, and most of the time, unrightfully so. No wonder the Bible says only “unwise” people do this. Don’t mistake personality and opinions of others for intellect and truth! You, yourself will be wiser in the process! How many times have we seen people come out of obscurity to do great things! You may have even said yourself, “Well, we all thought that was the dumbest kid in school!” and it ends up that child grew up to become a successful business owner and millionaire! I have heard of accounts like this on several occasions! God uses the “foolish” things of this world to confound the wise!
     God will take care of the development of others and the development of us. It is better all the way around when we let Him do it and leave it alone ourselves!