God created human beings with the capacity to reflect God’s nature. God created them male and female and poured the essence of the divine self into them equally. God blessed them: “Live in fullness! Have babies! Take charge and take care. Be responsible for life in the sea and life in the air. Care for every living thing. Love with abandon!” – Genesis 1:26 – author paraphrase
Once in a while I will write in response to a question from one of my readers. Sometimes I will build on ideas that have come out in conversations. Today I’m posting in response to an assignment.
“Daddy,” our daughter Naomi said, “please write a blog about pets tomorrow.”
Well, she has a very good reason. Late Thursday afternoon, sadness upon sadness, her sweet dog Star said goodbye to the family who has loved her for so long and passed on into doggie eternity. She was old – almost fifteen – and had lived such a good and faithful life. But Star was very sick and she just couldn’t hang on any longer.
This picture of the children with Star was taken just before they got on the bus to school Thursday morning.
It’s really hard to let go of pets. They love us so honestly and without holding anything back and it is all we can do not to break down and weep out of gratitude because we know we never could have earned that level of affection. It is a gift, pure and simple; our pets are gifts, rare and beautiful, and our hearts break from all the love.
In a serendipity earlier today, cleaning out my study, I unearthed this photo of my old dog, Mozart, snuggled by my feet under my writing desk. Moe has been gone probably fourteen years now. I was still a writer for the Tampa Tribune at the time and I swear I have never received such a deluge of mail as I did the week I published a column about his death.
All Dogs (and Cats) go to Heaven:
My friend Randy was a strong leader in his field and a prominent public figure. But he nearly broke apart when his cat died and I had to go over and visit him at his home. He wanted to know – not in an academic sense but on a heart level, deep and visceral – if his cat would be in heaven to greet him when he died.
“Do you believe that God loves you?” I asked. “With all my heart,” he said. “Then I am convinced that your Muffin will be in heaven – because the God who loves you and knows you understands that it would make you happy.”
I wasn’t blowing smoke. I was speaking from my heart.
But this isn’t the first pet our daughter’s family has said goodbye to this year. Capriccio (the socially challenged kitty) lived with Naomi her entire adult life before passing on at the end of this July.
So Naomi, and her husband Craig, and our wonderful grandchildren, are all going through a tough spot right now and we are crying for them too.
My Theology of Pet Care:
But here’s the thing, here’s the serendipity of it all. Back at the top of this post, in the scripture from Genesis, we read that caring for God’s creation is one of the things we do that aligns us with the nature of God.
When we love like that, when we generously pour all of ourselves into the care of our animals, we are demonstrating the very nature of God. There is something holy, something beautiful, something divine about treating God’s creatures with respect, and care, and affection.
We would not know this pain if we had not experienced such love. And for me, every time I interface with profound loss, I understand a little more that what I have been given is so much more than what is gone.
Over time, if I love enough, I have such a reservoir of agape – ἀγάπη, agapē – to tap that I know I will never run dry of it, no matter how many tears are shed.
I love you, Naomi. You always love so generously and well – DADDY
God created human beings with the capacity to reflect God’s nature. God created them male and female and poured the essence of the divine self into them equally. God blessed them: “Live in fullness! Have babies! Take charge and take care. Be responsible for life in the sea and life in the air. Care for every living thing. Love with abandon!” – Genesis 1:26 – author paraphrase
But the regular pain meds absolutely do help, so Scout just lounges around all day using the minimum possible output of energy; in fact, she’s so good at it we could set her up in the basement with a video-game consul and call her a college dropout. She will go outside when it’s absolutely necessary to take care of business, otherwise she’s pretty much a large shag rug in need of the occasional spritz of Fabreeze.
Today is Rebekah’s birthday. The first time I wished her a happy birthday she turned twenty-one. This will be the forty-second celebration I have enjoyed marking the beautiful creative moment God embraced in gifting her to this world. God must have been having a good day – pitch perfect – and the gift never gets old.
“Cannabis Treats” – hemp oil, hashish – aka medical marijuana. I promised Rebekah I wouldn’t make fun of our dog but I have noticed she’s been awfully mellow lately and constantly asking for Cheetos.
Scout Labradoodle is certainly getting on in years, plus there is the rheumatism in her hips, and the bad back, and the allergies, and all those tumors. But when I look at her face – and, once in a while, when she tries to steal something, empty a trash can, or “kill” a box of Kleenex – she is still that same fun-loving, people-loving, “this world is my playground” puppy who turn our world upside down back in 2006.
So, after a fairly long lapse, I’ve been getting creative again in my kitchen. Last night it was chicken with a tart cherry glaze, scratch mashed potatoes with garlic and crème fraîche, and – a first for me – collard greens. The collards probably worked only because I first sautéed them with garlic and olive oil, then braised them in red wine vinegar.
Then, Saturday, salmon with a labneh sauce over a mixture of freekeh with dates, and kale with sauteed zucchini, garlic, and lemon zest.
My friend and I met for coffee to catch up on life in general, and we ended up covering some fairly deep spiritual matters. What we talked about mostly was rejecting the false narrative that values priorities that do not satisfy at the expense of what’s really important, and we wondered about how we could get over this tendency we have to complicate everything.
Part of me wants to write about the wonderful, deep, spiritually satisfying conversation my Saturday men’s group enjoyed this morning. But it’s been a serious week of reflection in and through these posts so I’ll leave you with a scripture and defer to a few dog and grandchild photos instead.
Meanwhile, up in Richmond, David and Beks are enjoying the new routine: Kindergarten for him, and pre-school for her. Not so easy on Naomi, however, getting everyone organized for that 7:45 bus.
I’m amazed sometimes at the depths of love and affection we have for our animals. I’m not sure if Facebook or Instagram would be able to generate enough traffic to justify continued existence if people didn’t post all those adorable dog photos and cat videos a hundred-bazillion times a day.
So It’s been a while since I wrote a post for my dad, Derek. Or, as I know him, “The guy who drops good stuff in the kitchen.”
