But in reality life without the good or without the bad wouldn’t be life after all. It has a beginning and life has an end. In between are times of great joy, experience, relationship, happiness and hopefully a mind full of memories.
This past week our beloved 10 year old boxer, Sam, suddenly feel ill. Earlier, he had been relaxing on the couch as usual while the kids ran amuck throughout the house. But just a few hours later my wife and I had the terrible experience of having to hold him in our arms as our vet put him to sleep. After all he had given us there was simply no way we were going to let him suffer one second longer than he should. We laid on the floor holding him in our arms one last time.
Rarely have I ever cried that hard.
Sam provided our family with 10 amazing years of incredible joy, funny moments and a sweet, protective bond that seems to only exist between man and his dog. He gave us way more than we ever imagined. He was beyond just a “good dog”. He was family. He was there through most of our major family events; when we started dating, when we got married, when we moved into our only home, when we changed churches, when we had our twins, through tough business times and the adoption of our son.
Our other dog, Max, a 12 year old Jack Russell mix is old too and God only knows how long we have with him. “Max & Sam” were the best of buds and they were our kids, before our kids were our kids. Now Max will have to adjust to life without Sam just as we’ll have to. This will be a new normal for all of us.
Though Sam is gone I believe he is running the fields of Heaven waiting on us to join him one day. Think about it…if God is good enough to surprise us with amazing stars and things we have yet to discover, I am sure He is good enough to ensure that our dogs run up to us when we step into eternity. He did make the animals before He made man. And, after all, isn’t it ironic that God is dog spelled backwards?
As a friend told me during this, when we love someone or something like our dog, we take the risk of having a few days or weeks of incredible pain when they are gone. But, that’s nothing compared to the years of untold joys we receive for loving and embracing that relationship.
We are called to love God and that is mainly expressed by loving others and His creation. We should desire to love on more kids, rescue and love on more animals and seek out and have deeper relationships with our family and friends.
Sure we can seclude ourselves from certain pain by keeping our lives “all about us” and simply refusing to get too close to a child, a friend, a family member or even an animal that needs a home, but that’s not God’s design. Rather, He intended that life be about relationships. God is love and love can only be expressed outwardly towards something else.
We just have to know that the more we allow ourselves to have these relationships the more likely we are to have a week like we just did. One in which the tears come suddenly and the heartbreak just won’t leave you be. It’s true the more we love, the more we will be hurt, either in death or in relational pain.
The saying goes “life happens” and at times it certainly feels that way. As we watched Sam take his last breath that afternoon life was certainly “happening” and we hated every second of it in that moment. But, even still, life is very good.
Without pain, our joys wouldn’t mean much. Without tears, our smiles might not be as bright. Without struggle, our wisdom might never appear. Without death, we wouldn’t cherish the days we have.
I hate it when a relationship in life has to come to an end and death parts us from that someone or something we love. I still miss my granddad all the time and most of you are thinking about someone, or a loving pet, right now that you miss too.
But that’s what makes life an adventure. We just have to make no bones about it and embrace it - even though we know it’s gonna hurt.
“A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal." Proverbs 12:10
© 2011, J. Brady"
I say it how I see it and I make no bones about it."
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