THEY HAVE NO PLANS TO WORRY THEM. Everything is NOW. If you don’t believe that, watch them eat. Immediacy is all. Dogs have an indifference to wealth that is difficult to understand, as well as an indifference to trends and fashions of the hour, even spiritual ones. Celebrity means nothing to them. They are unmoved by the media. They just seem to live life authentically, in every moment, which is in itself a form of worship, that is, living according to some original design, and to the delight of the Creator of that design. A dog knows no other option, having no thought of, nor any real concept of tomorrow, taking life in with the wolfish gulp.
Outside of an occasional howl, whine, or whimper, a bark, growl, or pant, my dogs had no audible language and therefore had to show me their devotion outside of words, by the simple art of being themselves. They had to give devotion a shape that was louder, deeper, and truer than tongues.
Love was animated. It was conspicuous, playful, kind, without pretense. They could not hide what they felt. They saw little point in it. They were neither political, nor guarded. They could not wrap themselves in protective coverings. They had not learned from us the art of disguising or suppressing what they felt. They were who they were. They accepted the mystery of me, the other I seemed to be to them. They didn’t know how to question it, so they didn’t bother.
Devotion was, for them, a way of life. They made it look easy. I envied them, and yet the mirror they held up seemed to suggest possibilities, bright and hopeful possibilities that something similar might be discovered about my own nature, that I too might live authentically, that is, I might live life as it was designed to be lived, at capacity, at full measures, and with fewer restraints. All this, and with love at the very heart of it, love that is no less than the undersong of life, as natural as breathing.
The above is an excerpt from a chapter entitled SO INEVITABLY DOG.
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June 26, 2008 at 9:54 am
Amber
Great blog and very insightful! We humans could learn a lesson or two from our canine friends. Dogs never waver in their devotion. They love you on your good days, your not so good days and your absolutely ugly days. They commit to you for life and love you unconditionally. They don’t fall out of love–you’re their entire world from the moment you take them in to the day they die. It’s much like the way Christ loves us. He never wavers in His love, and He’s committed to us for life. We need to be more like our furry friends and practice the same kind of devotion to Christ that our furry friends show toward us. We should live now for Him with the same anticipation and excitement that a dog shows at meal time because Christ gives us the ultimate food for the soul…Himself.