I’ve always believed that dogs are some of God’s best work.
It’s been a tough week for our family; we had to say goodbye to our beloved family pet, Piper. She was a rescue and an absolute gift from God. We watched her go from a frightened, skinny heartworm positive, throw away, to a healthy and bossy ruler of our roost. She became our family mascot and her antics will forever be a part of our family lore.
When my kids were little and asked me if dogs go to heaven, I had to answer them with an honest. “I don’t know.” The Bible doesn’t address that particular topic. But, I do believe they are some of God’s best work and the love and joy that they bring to our lives are definitely blessings that could only come from Him. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to find dogs in heaven.
Witnessing a rescue dog go from feeling unloved and unwanted, to blossoming and knowing they are a part of the family, is a beautiful sight to behold. It’s a little like what happens to us when we decide to lean into Jesus and accept all of the love and grace available to us. We were once throw aways, stuck behind bars of some sort, either literally or figuratively, who become part of the Kingdom. We too, become beloved, like our sweet Piper, rescued.
I will forever be grateful for the lessons she taught us and the joy she brought us. She reminded us that love can turn up in the most unexpected of places and faces and that we should always be on the lookout for it. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
A lady working at a bakery reminded me we are never too busy to be kind.
Last Saturday was my son’s birthday. I got up that morning and had breakfast and a cup of coffee and ran out to the grocery store to get him a chocolate chip cookie cake. That’s what he always requests for his birthday and I wanted to be sure his cookie cake was waiting for him when he came downstairs.
When I arrived at the store, I couldn’t locate one. I approached the bakery counter and an older lady was working. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for her to acknowledge me. When she finally did and I told her that I would like for her to write “Happy Birthday,” on a cookie cake, she said, “ok,” and kept working.
I was a little confused as I just stood there.
She finally informed me that the three on display on the counter, were all they had. One was covered in butterflies and flowers. The second had so many icing rings that only a small spot remained in the middle (definitely not enough space for a birthday message.) The final one had green icing flowers and black rings of icing around the edge. I sighed and picked that last one up and handed it to her.
When I spelled out my son’s name for her, she replied, “How else would you spell it?”
Sincerely, surprised at her continued rudeness, I pasted on a smile and told her that I usually put his full name on his birthday cakes and that people often want to leave off one of the t’s. She had no further comment and went to work.
She was taking a while, so I just browsed the many baked goods while I waited, determined not to let her demeanor ruin my day. For all I knew, she was in the middle of a big order, or didn’t feel well, or had received some bad news.
At some point, she surprised me again, when she informed me that she was making a new one for me.
When she handed me the new cookie cake, with blue and white icing, she looked bewildered at the tears that swam in my eyes as I thanked her. I checked out as quickly as I could and all but ran to my car before the floodgates opened and tears streamed unchecked down my face.
The lady at the bakery had no way of knowing that this mama was struggling a little with her baby turning twenty and no longer being a teenager.
She couldn’t have known what a tough year my son had endured. He made the decision to transfer colleges right before Covid hit, so he spent a lot of last year at a new school where he knew no one, alone in his room. She had no way of knowing how I had prayed for him all year or how much hope I had for him in the coming year.
She couldn’t have possibly known that my husband’s dad had passed when he was nineteen or that my husband’s brother had also passed when his son was nineteen, or how that family history had weighed heavily on my heart this past year.
The lady at the bakery had no way of knowing how blessed I felt that Saturday morning or how her act of kindness made my heart run over with thanks. I thanked God all the way home with that cookie cake, for His mercy, for His blessing and for the love He has shown my family and I thanked Him for the woman at the bakery who had a change of heart and decided to be a blessing to me that day. I will truly never forget it and I pray I will be reminded to the same for someone I don’t know.
A busy worker at a bakery reminded me to always take time to bless others because we never know what a simple act of kindness can mean. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
I was recently talking with my Daddy on the telephone and as Southerners tend to do, we ended up talking about the weather. We have had a dry spell over the past few weeks and we finally had a few much needed days of rain. I told him that I am always amazed at the results of rain.
I can meticulously water my plants and they will look ok, but just one good rain shower and they come alive. The color is more vibrant; they stand up straighter and they bloom or even produce fruit seemingly overnight.
Daddy just laughed and said, “Rain is God’s water.”
We chatted a while longer but, I thought about his comment long after we hung up. We often try to make situations in our lives work out the way we want them to. We spend lots of time planning and striving to do it our way and often we can make it work for a while, but when we ask for God’s direction and blessing first, and then wait on his will, things turn out much differently Like my plants after the rain, we go from striving and merely surviving to thriving.
But, we also have to remember that we will sometimes endure dry spells and even periods of drought. We sometimes pray for that spiritual water for so long that we wonder if it will ever come, yet if we remain faithful and wait on God, He always delivers.
We should always seek God’s water. It makes all the difference. A conversation with my Daddy reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
I was walking through campus on the way to my office one day last week, when I saw a man cutting the grass. It was early and he was up on a hill, a safe distance from me, but there was still some grass and dust flying around. As I got closer, he stopped his mowing. I smiled and mouthed, “thank-you.” He nodded and continued his mowing when I passed safely by.
I have to admit that he caught me completely by surprise. I work on a big campus. There is always lots of lawn work going on and lots of pedestrians walking around. I’ve no doubt that it would be very easy to get in a zone once he gets on a noisy lawnmower and tune out the world. It would be simple to focus on the task at hand, and who could blame him with so much work to do?
But, this man on this day, chose differently. He made it his business to look outside himself and his plans and pause to think about someone else. I thought about his unexpected act of kindness for the rest of the day.
We have become an incredibly self-focused society. We are busy. We have places to be and tasks to complete and it’s so easy to miss the many people who cross our paths daily when we leave ourselves so little space to breathe. Yet, most of us have multiple opportunities to make a difference to someone every single day simply by pausing and acknowledging their presence.
From the person who is checking us out at the grocery store, to the person on a scooter trying to reach something on a high shelf, to the child trying to get our attention during a favorite television show, eye contact and being present can make all of the difference to someone who may be struggling.
Make no mistake, we all struggle sometimes, maybe now more than ever.
The simple kindness of a pause by a complete stranger, reminded me to do the same. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
