Weekly e-news July 5, 2019
Hey, everyone!
Hope y’all had an awesome fourth! Next holiday comin’ up is…lemme think…uh…Labor Day?
So…we had a weird moment yesterday!
Well, actually, I didn’t realize it was weird ’til today!
We got talking about one of our dogs…which (“whom”?) we haven’t talked about in…forever!
And today I realized that yesterday was the anniversary of the day that dog died…
That was a sadder Fourth than I would have thought it was going to be before it happened…
I mean, we knew it was coming.
He was a humongous St. Bernard and was about 140 in dog years.
Couldn’t see or hear.
He could just smell.
And he did!! A lot sometimes! (Before Tina shampooed all 200-somethin’ lbs of him!)
I’m not a big “dog-guy” (and Harley was a big dog!) and I’ve never really had a desire to have a bunch of dogs. I’m a big Tina-guy, however, and she’s always loved them!
Consequently, we hadn’t had that many dog-less years together.
We’ve had dogs that were “rescue dogs”…
the kind you rescue from ending up on death row in the pound…
”dead dog walking”…
Harley was one of those.
A lot of times, people get big dogs and than realize that they eat half a house daily, and do other things in a big way, as well, and decide they don’t want them. We got two St. Bernards almost at once that way.
I wasn’t sure where it was going to end and how many “saints” we’d eventually wind up with, but I was getting prepared to celebrate All Saints Day!
One of them was kinda grouchy and mean…well, not exactly mean…just mean-ish.
But Harley was the sweetest.
He really was the sweetest dog we every had.
Always!
Always kind…always wanted to touch you.
If you walked down the street, he wanted to rub up against you when you strolled.
(It was a good way to wind up in a ditch!)
He just wanted to be around you.
He just wanted a pat on the head.
He just wanted to please you. He was just sweet.
And when he was old and walking into poles and trees and stuff, it didn’t bother him at all.
He ate the worst smelling dog food everyday…same thing everyday…and never complained!
About anything!
When he was really old, he slept most of the time. He snored like Bronco Nagurski and you could hear it all over. It is quiet now out there at night.
And I was kinda surprised how much I missed him.
He was just a dog.
But in a way he was more and I didn’t know it.
He was kind of a mentor.
Like a spiritual mentor.
A mentor who left dog hair everywhere.
Like the way he just wanted to be around us and how he was happiest with that.
And he just wanted to please you.
And I want to be like that with our Lord!
Like Harley!
Just happy to be around Him.
Content to know He’s there.
Only goal is to please Him and that’s all.
And if I know my Lord is pleased with me, I just wag my tail, spiritually speaking, and I’m totally content and filled.
And what if a person could be so kind all the time, and so sweet to people that when you’re not around, it’s what they miss the most. To live so that when you’re no longer there, no one will remember a time when you barked at or bite anyone…
Mother Teresa of India said, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better or happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting”
Don’t lick people in the face, though. It’s not as cool as dogs think it is.