It's a dog's life II

It's very instructing, very informative to watch dogs. There's a great, great part of me that still believes the way dogs love is about as close to the way God does it that one can find in the world. Dogs love you because, well, because you exist.

We have a dachshund named Breezy. Breezy came to us about two years ago. Breezy is dappled, a mix of gray and black, and a mini.

I collected Breezy from an animal shelter in Pearl River, Miss., after our beloved Shelty Tweetie died. He was pleasant on the trip from the little shelter, sitting on my lap as I drove.

But from the beginning of our relationship together, Breezy was emotionally stunted. He loved my wife, Mary, but seemed to be both frightened and angry at me. He barked. He ran when I talked to him. He would not come to me at all, but loved to sit in Mary's lap. And he ducked, often, when I would attempt to extend a hand to pet him.

It was apparent, me being a psychologist and all, that he had been abused, and I believe by a male. My voice was enough to set him off.

I wanted so desperately for Breezy to be a replacement for the previous dachshund in my life, one Mr. Frankie, who was my best friend ever, but he couldn't be because of someones treatment of him.

But time has passed as time is wont to do, and in the past month to six weeks, there has been a thawing. In the mornings particularly, Breezy comes to me -- reluctantly. He allows me, after a couple of tentative tries, to pick him up, and he seems to almost enjoy sitting in my lap. When Mary is away, he is sometimes happy to come to me even in the afternoons. Nights are still bark city, but we're slowing making progress there, too. He still ducks when either of us reach out to him, and his tail still goes under him immediately, but once he's picked up, that tail sets off like a propeller.

The point of it all?

Again, dogs love because that's what dogs do. But when they're abused, they don't always turn mean; no, sometimes they simply turn fearful.

I picture that as a pretty good rendition of emotionally starved and stunted humans. I know persons for whom God's love is the absolute remedy for their problems but who duck when God reaches out to them. They're fearful of being hurt, again, so they don't reach out at all or allow God to reach out to them. And don't even mention allowing other humans to reach out to them, for that's just not happening.

In scripture, I think of Nicodemus coming at night to Jesus, wondering who this person is and how this person can help him but being totally frightful of him at the same time. What if he's not the one? What if I reach out to this person and I'm burned again? What if, what if, what if?

God's love is such that it can tame over time even the most heart-broken of persons. God's love is such that even the ones who have lost so much can be healed. Time does truly heal all wounds, but I strongly suspect that a being who is outside of time, God the Father, is the one applying the healing agent (his bountiful, incredible love).

The 136th Psalm tells us, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever."

If you're a pet lover, watch your pet sometime and see the way they love. They love not for what you do, not for what you are, not for anything but the inexpressible fact that you exist and they're love.

John tells us in the first of his letters, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

Love is an extension of the best we can be. Love is above all our virtues. Without love, we are useless, banging cymbals.

Breezy wants nothing more than to be loved because he first loves. Someone took that love, and that little long body, and abused it at some point.

But it is comforting to note that love is finding a way to his heart, removing the icy fears of being hit, removing the steady resolve to not love as a mechanism of being safe.

For anyone who has held back from the touch of God because of similar fears, let it go. Don't be afraid to loosen the bonds that surround your heart. Let God come in, healing and holding and helping.

They call that kind of love unconditional.