Dog - Man’s Best Friend? Or A Link To …?

<<<I use the masculine pronouns “man” and “he” just to make it easier to write>>>

Why is it that most dogs are better people than most people?  It can’t just be loyalty, unconditional love, craving our company, or a willingness to forgive the stupid, unthinking way we treat them sometimes.

There has to be something more.  Some spark of devine guidance only the canine species is endowed with.

Could it just be coincidence that the names dog and God are so similar?  Maybe the original biblical translation was wrong and dog, not man, was the one made in God’s Image?  I’ve asked God about this and He just seems to give me a wink and a little smile.  He doesn’t seem to be offended by the comparison, either.

Dogs are messengers of God.  God's word is not accidental or happenstance.  The writers God chose to communicate His message were inspired divinely to write what they wrote, as they wrote it.  It is no accident there are 40 references in The Bible to dogs.

Dogs are messengers of God in that "dog" specifically and purposefully was selected through divine inspiration to communicate the full measure of God through the context of the 40 Scriptural references or citations in The Bible. Whether Hebrew (kelev), Greek (kuōn), or Aramaic (kalbā), whether literal, metaphorical, or allegorical in syntax, in the context of communicating God's word, dogs are messengers of God.*

W. C. Fields said:  “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

I say:  “I never met a dog I didn’t like.”  “The more dogs I meet, the less I like people. ”

Occasionally, I’ve met a dog who didn’t like me.

Maybe I smelled wrong or looked wrong or sounded wrong.

Maybe I violated his space, uninvited.

Maybe I reminded him of someone who abused him or someone he … just … didn’t … like.

In any case, we just agreed to take diverging paths.

Don’t get me wrong.  Other pets are OK.

Cats come in, eat, and want to go right back out.  Sometimes they will tolerate attention, but, not for long.  They do know how to say goodby:  Tail up and back turned.

Birds sit in a cage, squawk, eat, make a mess all over the floor, and stare at you with one eye.

Rodents can be trained to eat on cue … ?

Fish are …………….. well ……………. fish.

Reptiles are ………… we won’t even go there.

A dog, on the other hand, loves to play with you.  Mountain or beach, backyard or park, with or without toys (toys do make it more fun).

Dogs like to hunt.  Some even like to fish. Although, at times, their patience can be a little scarce.

A dog will, sometimes, be content just to lay his head, or maybe his whole body, on your lap.

The later you get home, the happier he is to see you.

He thinks the best bed for him is that pile of your dirty clothes at the foot of your bed.

When you are ill or recuperating, he will steadfastly stay by your side until you recover.

Dogs have been known to accompany their master’s casket until it’s put in the grave.

A dog doesn’t ask for much.  Food and water, a bath now and then, scritchies behind the ears or down the nose, a loving word, or sometimes just the simple touch of your hand.  Warning:  some dogs resist the bath part.

According to the Bible**, a man is given seventy to eighty years.

A dog is given considerably less.  I think that is so a man can experience the thrill of companionship from more than one dog in his lifetime.

Mark Twain said:  “If dogs don’t go to heaven, I want to go where they go.”

I’m with you there Mr Clemens.

*    http://www.associatedcontent.com/

**  Psalm 90:10   The days of our lives are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

NEED WASHING?

A slightly different twist on a post, by a very good friend, on her blog.

http://www.godspotting.net/2011/08/my-souls-dirty-underwear.html

It was pouring outside.  The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters.

So much in a hurry to hit the earth, it has no time to flow down the spout.

We all stood there, under the awning, just outside the door of Walmart.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.

I am always mesmerized by rainfall.  I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world.

Memories of running, as a child, splashing so carefree, came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

A little girl had been shopping with her mom in Walmart.  She must have been

6-years-old.  She was a beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.

Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in:

“Mom, let’s run through the rain.”

“What?” Mom asked.

“Let’s run through the rain.” She repeated.

“No honey, we’ll wait until it slows down a bit.” Mom relied.

The young child waited a minute and repeated:

“Mom let’s run through the rain …”

“We’ll get soaked if we do.” Mom said.

“No we won’t, mom.  That’s not what you said this morning.” The young girl

said, as she tugged at her mom’s arm.

“This morning?  When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?”

“Don’t you remember?  When you were talking to Dad about his cancer, you said

‘If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything.’ ”

The entire crowd became silent … I swear you couldn’t hear anything but the

rain … We all stood silently.  No one left.  Mom paused and thought for a moment

about what she should say.

Now some would laugh it off and scold the child for being silly.  Some might even ignore what was said.  But, this was a moment of affirmation in a young child’s life.

A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

“Honey, you are absolutely right.  Let’s run through the rain.  If God let’s us get wet, well…maybe we just needed washing.” Mom said.

We all stood watching, smiling and laughing, as they ran across the parking lot, dodging cars and stepping in puddles.  They got soaked.

They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.  And, YES, I did.  I ran.  I got wet.  I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away our material possessions.  They can take away our money.  They can take away our health.  But nothing and nobody can take away our precious memories.  Don’t forget to take the time to make memories every day.  To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them,

a day to love them, but then a lifetime to forget them.

“Link” this to the people you’ll never forget.  Let them know you are thinking

about them.

Keep in touch with your friends.  You never know when you’ll need each other.

Take the time to LIVE!

And DON’T FORGET TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN!!!