Pets Teach Us About Life
“Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.”
-- Job 12:7
God has given me many wonderful gifts but few have touched my heart like the animals He has placed in my care. They have taught me so much about unconditional love, sacrifice, and gratitude. They have filled my life with love and laughter.
On Monday I learned that my beautiful Labrador/retriever mix has a cancerous tumor growing in her shoulder. Amputation is not an option. We can only do what we can to ease her pain, try and protect her from a leg fracture and monitor for the likely time when the tumor will spread to her lungs. I am heartbroken.
It’s not the first time I’ve faced such sad news. I have lost other dogs, other companions, other sweet faces that live still in my heart. But I am not ready for this one. Will I ever be ready?
This little bundle of joy had arrived at my parents home two days before I made the cross-country move. I held her in my arms until she became too big to carry. She was my security blanket, my joy, in a world that was uneven and unhappy. I’m not sure I would have survived those first months without that little girl.
God knew that. It was why she was there. A gift when I needed it most. A reminder of His unconditional love.
She’d been limping and we’d taken her several times to the doctor. She’s 10 and that’s the age for arthritis. The doctors would give her a shot each time and she seemed to get better. But not this last time. I knew something was really wrong. I insisted on an x-ray. The result was something I’d never imagined. A cancerous tumor was already destroying the bone in her shoulder.
Now it’s my turn to care for this precious girl who has given so much to me. I’ll love her and make her as comfortable as possible. I’ll cherish each moment with this special girl until it’s time for her to go home to a place free of pain and filled with playmates and treats.
Animals teach us so much about life and love, about God and the true meaning of why we’re here. To love God. To honor Him. To care for others. To do good where we can. And to have fun.
I’m so thankful that God has blessed me with my precious pets. They have taught me so much and enlarged my heart in ways I’d never imagined possible.
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