I revealed in Hungry for God that I learn spiritual lessons from my dog. But you do it too, right? I recently asked my friends on facebook and twitter if they have learned any spiritual lessons from their pets. Luckily, I learned I’m not alone!
Jill Willis said that her pets teach her about “unconditional love and dependence on the master.” @LilyfussMom wishes she could be “as happy and loving as my dog to everyone regardless of who.” What a beautiful picture of unconditional love.
Patricia Small learned one great lesson from her dog: How to relax! “I learned that I need to rest. You know that commandment I break all the time because I go-go all the time.” Colleen Butcher learned the importance of rest from her dog, too. She pays attention to her dog’s schedule, “During the day, I used to prefer to just hole up at my desk, but now I take a break when she does!”
Pam Burchill is reminded of worship by her dog. “A dog truly loves his owner/master and sits at his feet, watches his every move, listens for his voice, anticipates his return.” What a beautiful picture of how we should worship our Master. Laurel Shield’s dog does the same thing-listens for her son’s voice and signals her son’s return.
Wendy Cunningham tells of one particularly hard time in her life when her dog just wouldn’t leave her alone. Her lab continually licked her ears. She says, “When I tried to push him away, he came back to me, still licking, still pursuing, showing me love… their unconditional love does model their Maker and his characteristics to us.”
Mechelle Cascardo says that her dog, Ollie “is always there for me when I want to give him love, but I am not always available to him. Just like we can be to our heavenly Father. He is always waiting for us and receives us with outstretched arms, but then when he needs us we are too busy and too tired.”
@sclairatkinson says, “not sure how spiritual it is, but Bullet taught me that if you stare fixedly at what you want, whimpering, you’ll likely get it.” Hershey has learned that same thing.
@rfbryant and @revjamesrobison have written their spiritual lessons they learned from their dog on their blogs and books, too. Faye’s blog post about her little dog, Casey, discusses the idea of asking and receiving. James recently wrote a blog post about how a blind dog helped him see. Read that post here.
I’m reassured to know that I’m not the only one who learns spiritual lessons from my dog. What about you? What spiritual insights have you gained from your pets?
*Photo courtesy of here
