A few years ago we adopted a dog. Well, I guess “I” adopted a dog. My wife
finally gave in. But he won her over and
now he is “our” dog. He has traveled
thousands of miles with us and introduced us to people of all ages, races and places who love dogs. This week he moved with us to Colorado.
Across the years we had pets, mostly mutts and strays
that wandered into our lives. They
helped us raise our kids. Each was
different. “Punkin” was our first. I brought
her home for Christmas. I was too busy
to give her much attention, but the boys loved her. She grew old, blind and died before our
daughter was born the year I turned 40.
Rascal was a stray gray-and-white kitten our boys picked
up off the street. He was part of our
family for fifteen years and made the move with us from Texas to
Minnesota.
We picked up a puppy we named Max from a Minnesota farm. We thought he would be a small dog, but in
six months, he was bigger than our daughter, had eaten all the furniture and
dug up the back yard. We offered him to
a good home. One interested lady tried
to take his picture and he ate her camera.
Finally a young couple with a farm adopted him. We threw in his crate, dog food and anything
else we could think of. We last saw them
chasing him down the street.
So we went back to cats.
My wife and daughter found a cute black and white kitten that our son named
“Fido.” Our daughter loved Fido. But, Fido was apparently insulted by our move
back to Texas and ran away. When our
daughter left for college we found ourselves in an empty nest, the kids grown
and the dogs and cats gone. It was peaceful.
I guess a little too peaceful.
After awhile I realized I missed having a dog.
We found Buddy, a tri-color Pembroke Corgi. He was picked
up starving off the streets of Fort Worth by Corgi Rescue. When we first met him he was skinny and
sick. But we knew he was right for
us. Buddy and I have bonded. He goes with me just about everywhere I
go. He is helping me put my life in
perspective and teaching me some things about God.
Buddy is teaching me to live in the moment; to celebrate
each day as a gift. So often I spend
time reminiscing or regretting the past and dreaming or worrying about the
future. But Buddy takes each day as it
comes. Of course it is good to cherish
memories and learn from the past. And it
is good to dream and plan. That is part
of what defines us in God’s image. But I
am prone to miss the moment. Jesus said,
“do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself …” ( Mt
6:34). “This is the day the Lord has made, let us
rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118:24).
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