Lessons in the Canine Heart
Hey All,
What is love to you? It is no secret that people experience love in different ways: the safety of a warm hug, the surprise of a thoughtful gift for no particular occasion; or maybe, simply your ears caught the phrase “I love you” floating in your direction. A lot of the times it’s a combination, a culmination, a balance of all the wonderful things the human heart is capable of showing. But life rarely allows us the luxury of hanging in such moments forever. In the world around us, in our very communities, in our own homes people have lost sight of what is most important.
We attempt to make amends for a year of long hours, missed school plays, and promises we knew we could not keep by showering those we love with red roses, expensive chocolates, and pink, purple, or red stuffed animals. But what has happened to relationships in our lives? The people we surround ourselves with should represent the best part of ourselves.
Instead we are overworked, over stimulated, nervous creatures that have a difficult time honing in on what is naturally dear to heart. As a child of divorce, I have it on personal experience that the world has a pretty lousy track record in the loving marriage category these days. So how do we turn it around? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, states “4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”.
It is my simple belief that continued happiness lies in never losing sight of this statement about love. I’m not just addressing romantic relationships. How many times have you clung to the bitter memory of that time one of your parents denied you a want that you felt would cause the world to stop turning should the wish not be satisfied. According to the scripture, love does not keep record of wrongs. Let it go. How many times have you stood defiantly in the face of a friend and frustratingly defended a hopeless position in a fault that was clearly your doing? Love is not proud.
I recently finished a book, which I believe is still holding strong on the bestsellers list, Marley & Me, by John Grogan. The book is nothing more than a simple account of one dog owner’s experiences with his family pet, a yellow Labrador named Marley. Towards the end, Grogan reflects on whether or not it’s possible for a nutty animal to point people toward what matters most in life.
Grogan writes, “A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbols mean nothing to him… A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not.”
Give him your heart and he will give you his.
In reading through the adventures of Marley, I was reminded of my Chocolate Labrador, Hershey, who passed away last April. I loved that blockheaded animal more than pretty much anything and she never neglected her end of the bargain. Hershey loved recklessly, with enough blind affection to believe she could fly. One torrid summer day I was laid out on my front lawn soaking up sun rays, when the sky suddenly darkened, not seconds later I heard a dull thud. Looking back toward my house I quickly took in the scene.
Hershey, trapped in our back yard and apparently interested in seeing what I was up to, must have scaled the railing of our back deck, standing about 16 feet off the ground. At some point her want to be near must have overwhelmed her dopey mind, as she attempted her hand at the friendly skies. Miraculously the 80lb ball of fuzz cleared the 7ft. privacy fence and collapsed with the aforementioned dull thud about 18 diagonal feet from the corner of the deck from which she leapt.
A touch dazed, but unhurt, she lumbered to where I was laid out, and began voraciously licking the side of my face. Imagine if we could all share Hershey’s zeal for love. What if the tenderness we share with friends, family, and lovers, all gave us the impression that gravity itself could not hold us back.
This Valentines Day, it is my prayer that you might let go in blind loving faith and soar onto the heavens.