Some of us believe that we are created in God's image. I believe that if we are then surely dogs must be reflections of His heart.
All loving, all protective, all forgiving, that's what we know of God's love for us. Now show me a dog who is not all that and more?
They are by your side even when you don't realize they are there. Looking up at you, hoping for a pat on the head, they are just so happy you are near.
When you come home, tired from work, they greet you like you have been to the moon and back. Tongues drooling, tails wagging, they woof in glee.
My master is home. My mistress is back. The world is all good now.
When you sleep at night, its with a little more comfort. You know that the moment the scent of a stranger reaches your doggie's nose, he will sound the alert.
However tiny or big he is, he will protect you to the death.
You are the centre of his universe. The alpha wolf of his pack. The greatest hunter that ever lived.
While everyone around you can pick out a dozen or more of your faults, to your dog you are just perfect.
How often we forget that in an unforgiving world, all we need to do is to look into the eyes of our canine friend and at once know the feeling of unconditional love.
They search for us when we are hurt and lost. They guide us when we are blind. They comfort us when there is no medical cure for our pain. They protect our home, our families and our property. They track criminals, protect our country and our coastlines. Sometimes they are the only friend of the lonely, the forgotten, the poor, the beggar on the street. They don't discriminate against us.
Yet, we are hardly worthy of their love and devotion.
We cage them, whip them, starve them. We ignore and bark orders at them harshly and feed them leftovers. We hardly care if they are warm or sheltered from the elements. Worse, some of us discard them once they have grown out of their cute puppy ways. Others blindly believe they are "unclean" and treat them like lepers, that somehow just grazing against their body would turn them into a disintegrating pulp of human flesh. Others love them just a little too much and cook them instead.
Yes, we are hardly worthy of their love, yet they love us anyway.
It is not a coincidence that a dog is spelled "d-o-g".
He is the reflection of "g-o-d" in our midst.
Cherish God's heart who is with you now a little more. One day all too soon, he won't be there.
For one, whose tail wags no more, be comforted knowing he still watches over you. And if you close your eyes and be still, you can almost feel his breath against your skin.
-In memory of all the dogs who have loved us, the all-supreme furry friends who made our childhood spectacular, the wise hounds who told us who was a keeper and who to ditch, the all-comforting warmth in our beds at night when we silently cry ourselves to sleep at night, the "baby" that makes our family, a family and the nanny that protects our children. If only we can love them half as much as they love us.-
