A couple days ago, in really frigid weather, we happened to drive by this scene. A cute little dog waiting patiently in front of his home to be let in. He sat nicely and let me snap his picture. I hope he didn't have to wait too long. For some reason it reminded me of the painting called "His Master's Voice". This was the symbol for the RCA recording company, shown here in my second picture. Here's the story behind it. The dog is a fox terrior named Nipper, because he loved to nip at people's heels and shoes. He belonged to Mark Barraud. When Mark died, his brother Francis inherited Nipper, a cylinder phonograph, and a few recordings of Mark's voice. When Mark would play these recordings, the little dog would sit faithfully in front of the phonograph with his head cocked, listening to the voice of his deceased master. In fact, the painting was origionally called "His Late Master's Voice", and is still worded as such on many of the origional RCA labels. But it was later decided by the company to be too depressing for the buying public's tastes, so they took out the "late" part. I think that Nipper would be an even better symbol for Christians. We could take quite a few cues from dogs in our Christian walk. A dog is loyal to his master and loves him no matter what. Dogs let everyone know who their master is and will protect him to the death. They can't wait to spend time with him. All this, and they don't really expect any reward other than to please their master and get maybe a pat on the head. I think I'm not doing too bad if I can sit for a while with my head tilted like Nipper's, be still, and listen for what God wants me to know.
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." John 10:27
4 comments:
Great post. Yes, it certainly would be easier for us if we just listened to God.
amen sister. Love this post. I had never heard that story about the RCA dog. when we talk about our dogs, we say he/she was in the RCA dog positon. i can't beleive I never knew why they used the phonograph and the dog. we humans are just like sheep, they are well known for being quite dumb. but they do know the masters voice and so should we.
That little dog in the top photo is so dear, and the photo of the dog listening to his master's voice is a classic, isn't it. I never knew the story behind it. It certainly makes sense. If we were only like him.
I think of the verse, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me." Maybe we could slip in the word "pup."
You have a gift for taking the ordinary and tying it to the spiritual.
I think RCA got it wrong when they thought Nipper's story was too depressing. Most folks never knew his story, I did and thought it was sweet. It also illustrated loyalty which would have been a good image for the company. I still like the painting.
I hope the little dog didn't have to stay outside long. I get so angry at the way people treat their pets sometimes.
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