When You Face A ‘Three-Dog’ Night!

TheDiscipleMD

Like many people my age, when I hear the term “Three dog night” I think of the 1970’s superstar rock band of the same name. How the group got their name is interesting. “An official commentary included in the CD set ‘Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story…states that vocalist Danny Hutton’s then-girlfriend…thought of the name when she read a magazine article about indigenous Australians, in which it was explained that on cold nights they would customarily sleep in a hole in the ground while embracing a dingo, a native species of wild dog. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs, and if a night was especially cold, it was a “Three Dog Night”.” (Wikipedia).

I remember reading the background of this rock group’s name many years ago. The imagery of a man hunkered down in a hole piling dogs on top of him to keep warm has stayed in my mind. Under that condition, the dogs truly became “man’s best friend” as they may have kept the man from freezing to death. While these dogs provided warmth and safety from the physical elements of the world, we are exposed on a daily basis to the harsh conditions of not only physical harm, but spiritual as well. To whom do we look to for warmth and salvation from spiritual harm? Sleeping with three dogs will not do the trick!

There will be times during this earthly journey when we all will face “three dog nights”. And for some of us, a “three dog night” may become a month, or a year or perhaps a lifetime. When those times come upon us, it would be wise to blanket ourselves with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, our spiritual “three dogs”. Their words and encouragement come through the scriptures, living prophets, apostles and personal promptings. Their warmth is made manifest through the workings of the Holy Ghost giving us protection from the harshness of this world. My experience is that seldom a day goes by where the warmth of the spiritual “three dogs” is not needed. If you are like me, surrounding yourself with the spirit of God does feel like “a fire is burning! (“The Spirit of God”, LDS Hymn #2)

“If you want to see the light of heaven, if you want to feel the inspiration of Almighty God, if you want to have that feeling within your bosom that your Heavenly Father is guiding you to the left or guiding you to the right, instructions from this passage of scripture will help you: “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved” (D&C 87:8), and then the Spirit of our Heavenly Father will be yours.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice: The Lighthouse,” Friend, Feb 2006, 2–3).

It is a cold and desperate feeling when you find yourself in the “hole” alone. In Ecclesiastes we read, “Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” (Ecclesiastes 4:11) May we protect ourselves against life’s cold and harsh nights by  keeping  the “Three” close at hand. Let us stand in holy places so that we may feel the warmth and comfort that come when the spirit of God abides within us!

 

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