itsawonderfilledlife

So, the Wonderdog … he’s so freaking cute! He has this look like he is always ready to play.

At the end of the work day … that’s when I really feel loved.

Hubby says that each day the Wonderdog is on high alert as soon as he hears the garage door open. He sits, staring at the door, ears perked, for me to open it and walk into the house. Then his excitement explodes as he jumps and runs around waiting for me to pat his head and take him for his outside afternoon ablutions.

Dogs teach us about unconditional love, adoration, forgiveness and never hold a grudge. They are the model of how to love.

There is nothing better than being loved by a dog!

As a matter of fact, I would hasten a guess that everyone who has ever been adored by a dog has thought to themselves at least once, why can’t people love like?

Here’s the thing …

We humans do not love like dogs. We don’t act like dogs (and this is not a positive statement!).

We humans are selfish. Forgiveness is not something that comes natural. Humans are all about what have you done for me lately?

Basically, we are like cats … who ignore, demand, bully and abuse. In our selfish, arrogant cat-like selves, we think, that we show love to others as a dog shows love … but we don’t.

we all want to be loved as a dog loves,
but humans love more like cats!

Added to that … we ignore, demand, bully, abuse and cancel from our lives people who treat us in a cat-like manner.

Awhile back I had a little self check, on just how like a cat I am in my expectations in relationships with other people.

I was angry … like, so angry I could spit (my grandmother’s most extreme definition of anger). Someone had said things that made me mad. They had also not said things, and that made me mad. They had done things (and not done things) that made me mad … mad enough to spit!

Actually, I was mad enough to split … I had reached the end of my patience with this individual and I just wanted to get some permanent space from them …

because I didn’t deserve to be treated like that!

Then I came home one day, to the Wonderdog, who lavished his regular excitement and adoration on me. As I played with him, I thought about how distracted I had been lately. I hadn’t taken him for a walk, hadn’t had our regular end of day snuggles. Basically, I kept him alive, but didn’t provide much else.

Then I thought about the human relationship … the one I was ready to cancel. This time, I thought about times when I was the one who was saying (or not saying) and doing (or not doing) things that made the other person mad. They didn’t cancel our relationship, they persevered, stuck their feet deep into my dung heap and waited for better days. Oh, they might have hissed a time or two (like a cat), but they stayed with me through the storm (that I, no doubt, had contributed to creating).

How could I ever expect to be given the grace of a dog-like love if I am not prepared to love others through their cat-like tendencies?

There is this verse in the Bible (and in the texts of many other religions around the world) … a motto, a maxim for life that is pure gold :

Do to others
what you want them to do to you.

Matthew 7:12

It is such a simple rule for life, until you try to live it. Easier to expect it from others than to accomplish for others. Yet … if we could adopt this golden rule into our lives, what a difference we might experience. Imagine how others might see us, how they might see our God.

So, that’s it folks,

give love to others
with the dog-like love that you want to receive.