love?
Well
my dear ones,
I
sincerely hope all is going well so far
in
this barely started New Year;
yet,
if not, remember that tomorrow
is
a fresh new start;
actually,
every tomorrow is a fresh new start
because
grace never ends.
As
I’ve mentioned before,
I
spend a lot of time observing our
little
furry friends;
and
cats and dogs have taught me a lot
about
the nature of our universe,
as
in, the way things were meant to be
before
we, in our “wisdom,”
messed
with the Designer’s intentions. =>
If
we listen to the messages
of
our current society,
one
would think that sex is the most
important
thing;
based
on the ink it gets,
an
external observer to our dear earth
might
well conclude that it is
our
greatest need.
*shrugs*
While
your average teenager
would
likely concur with that,
it’s
hogwash, of course. *lol*
The
first biblical admonition is,
“to
be fruitful and multiply,”
and
God made sex pleasurable
likely
to make it easier for us to comply.
Yet
there have been plenty of people
who
have been celibate their entire lives,
showing
that sex isn’t even a need,
at
least not on an individual level
(although
it obviously is
for the human race in general! =>).
No,
the greatest need,
the
thing all people seek,
even
more than money, sex, or fame,
is
to be loved
(although
some that have been burned
early in life through a false love
may be so hurt that they seek
these other things as a replacement
for the love they think they cannot get).
And
I see this need reflected
in
the lives of our small furry friends.
As
I type this, one-handed,
I’m
petting a cat (Riley) that was
rescued
at just a few weeks of age;
raised
as a bottle-fed kitty,
as
far as he is concerned,
I’m
like his mother. *lol*
He
often sleeps on my chest
(so
I can barely breathe;
he’s no tiny kitten anymore,
except, perhaps, in his little kitty brain)
with
his head tucked under my chin
and
his front paws wrapped around my neck.
A
few weeks ago,
an
abandoned cat (Tony)
showed
up on our front porch.
He’s
a tough old tomcat;
but
if you raise a hand,
or
move your foot,
toward
him quickly,
he
freaks out,
and
darts away.
It’s
pretty obvious that
the
people who abandoned him
beat
the poor thing,
likely
many times,
before
throwing him out on the street.
Yet
in spite of this,
if
you sit still,
he
will come up and rub against
your
foot or your leg,
hoping
to be scratched.
That’s
how much he craves to be loved
in
spite of the abuse people
heaped
on him in the past.
Perhaps
because of his past,
Tony
is the kind of a cat
who
needs a single-cat home
where
he can get lots of love
and
plenty of attention.
I’m
working with my animal rescue friends
to
find him a loving home.
We
have a cat, Riah,
who
was the first animal we rescued
when
we moved here;
she
absolutely adores my wife,
and
will sit in her lap for hours.
Lately,
it’s been cold here,
so
my wife hasn’t been out back
in
the screen-in porch
(Riah’s
domain =>).
These
past few days,
I’ve
been spending extra time with her.
And
even with her favorite treats
sitting
in a bowl just a couple feet away,
she
will remain in my lap
until
I literally pry her off.
Yes,
she will choose love over food any day.
And
the one dog I had, Queenie,
even
though I only had her for a few hours,
taught
me lots about the importance of love.
Despite
that she had been on her own for months
(as
I later found out)
and
hadn’t had a lot of human interaction,
when
she got hit by a car that broke both hips
she
didn’t resist at all, or nip at me,
but
rather let me lift her out of the road
(and
let me give a big ‘thank you’
to the tractor trailer drivers
who drove around us and even
went nearly onto the grass when they realized
I was trying to rescue a dog)
and
put her in the back of my truck.
(if
you missed that one, you can read the
Full story of Queenie here:
Even
though it turned out she was hurt too badly
that
there was nothing the vet could do,
it
was still worth rescuing her.
In
the final hour of her life,
Queenie
had a name,
and
an owner
(I
listed myself as her owner of record;
just like with the sanctuary, as I see it,
whatever person or animal in need
God chooses to put in our path
is somehow our responsibility).
Also,
she died surrounded by people
who
were praying for her,
and
held by someone who loved her
even
if it was only for a short while.
I
may have only had her in my life
for
an extremely short time,
yet
she taught me a very valuable lesson:
love
is not some commodity
that
you can run out of;
the
more love you give,
the
more God will replenish it
and
give you even more love to give.
There's
no limit to the number
of
pets or people you can love.
Have
a great week. =)
grace, peace, and love to you,
dave
posted by thedavemyster at 1:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home