Good morning…
Her normal nap spots were vacant. I couldn’t find our dog anywhere. Not sucking in cool air on any of her favorite air vents. Not curled up in a cozy ball beside our bed in the corner of our main floor bedroom. Not laying outside her doggy door on the warm weathered wood, watching squirrels frolic from our back porch. With a baby gate turned “doggy gate” closing off the upstairs bedrooms, I did not expect to find her here…
…outside the bedroom of our son who just left for college. Cleverly having finagled her way upstairs without detection, I have never seen Tate sleep in this location since we brought her home from Adopt-a-Golden at eight weeks old, when our youngest son was just fifteen.
Breaking the normal house rules, I invited Tate to jump up on our son’s bed as we hung out in his room together. She seemed to express all of her emotions in the span of a sacred five minutes.
Expectant, hopeful our son would walk in the door at any second.
Relaxed, stretching out into the cushy comfort of the moment.
Playful, begging unashamedly for a bonding belly rub.
Sadly resigned, one of her best buddies is gone.
Finally, patiently, she drifts to sleep, waiting for another day when her playmate returns.
I can’t be sure exactly what our four-year-old dog is feeling a few days after her constant companion left home, but it is kinda fun to guess emotions from her demonstrative gestures. Our furry friend, Tate, loves us all unconditionally, wholeheartedly, symbiotically, and I truly believe our son’s absence is something she senses.
“He taught us the art of unqualified love,” says a line from the beloved dog movie Marley and Me. “How to give it, how to accept it. Where there is that, most other pieces fall into place.”
As new pieces of our family fall into place, our dog lovingly leads us to our welcoming God. So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9-11, MSG).
It is no coincidence that “dog” and “God” are made of the elements: endless love, bountiful in fruits from the soul, lessons on not only loving much but loving well, whether physically together or bonded beautifully from afar.
…Sue…
