Gidget is 6 years old. In dog years, she's 37, which means my dog is actually a year older than I am this year. And we have an agreement that she's going to live to the ripe old age of 18. A 5 year bonus over most dogs in her breed, but I'm doing my best to hold up to my end of the bargain by taking good care of her and loving her excessively, which I'm pretty sure extends the life of any living thing. :)
Several years ago I was in the process of learning to embrace hope and expectation, two things that had always been really difficult for me. I'm a visual learner, so often God gives me a picture to help me to understand Him better, and in this particular instance, He used Gidget. He took me back to the moment I brought Gidget home...this 2lb little ball of fur...
Imagine looking at this sweet fuzzy creature and realizing in the very first moment you meet that you will outlive this dog. That means that in 18 years you are going to be heartbroken if you allow yourself to get too attached. And in this moment you have a choice: you can either hold yourself back or fall in love. If you hold yourself back, you just do the bare minimum. You feed the dog, you take it to the vet for check-ups, you maybe even take it on some walks, but you never really allow yourself to get attached. You don't snuggle, you don't toss the ball and play fetch, you don't interact in any way other than necessity. Eighteen years go by and finally the day comes where the dog passes away. Are you sad? Maybe a little bit, but you've probably saved yourself excess tears by not getting too attached.
But what have you really missed?
18 years of memories. 18 years of that dog greeting you at the front door every day like you've been gone for years. 18 years of keeping your lap warm. 18 years of making you laugh. 18 years of being unconditionally loved.
18 years of joy.
You see, we all have choices of how to guard ourselves and not get hurt. We've all been hurt before and know that when we take the next risk we could be hurt again - just like getting a new puppy after the last one passed away and knowing you will cry over it someday as well. But if we wrap our heart up and don't let it risk the good with the bad, we miss out on all the joy in the process. As C.S. Lewis says:
Several years ago I was in the process of learning to embrace hope and expectation, two things that had always been really difficult for me. I'm a visual learner, so often God gives me a picture to help me to understand Him better, and in this particular instance, He used Gidget. He took me back to the moment I brought Gidget home...this 2lb little ball of fur...
Imagine looking at this sweet fuzzy creature and realizing in the very first moment you meet that you will outlive this dog. That means that in 18 years you are going to be heartbroken if you allow yourself to get too attached. And in this moment you have a choice: you can either hold yourself back or fall in love. If you hold yourself back, you just do the bare minimum. You feed the dog, you take it to the vet for check-ups, you maybe even take it on some walks, but you never really allow yourself to get attached. You don't snuggle, you don't toss the ball and play fetch, you don't interact in any way other than necessity. Eighteen years go by and finally the day comes where the dog passes away. Are you sad? Maybe a little bit, but you've probably saved yourself excess tears by not getting too attached.
But what have you really missed?
18 years of memories. 18 years of that dog greeting you at the front door every day like you've been gone for years. 18 years of keeping your lap warm. 18 years of making you laugh. 18 years of being unconditionally loved.
18 years of joy.
You see, we all have choices of how to guard ourselves and not get hurt. We've all been hurt before and know that when we take the next risk we could be hurt again - just like getting a new puppy after the last one passed away and knowing you will cry over it someday as well. But if we wrap our heart up and don't let it risk the good with the bad, we miss out on all the joy in the process. As C.S. Lewis says:
Take the risk. Hope again even if you've been disappointed before. Have God-expectations even if that seems scary. Trust that no matter what path he's taking you on, no matter how things unfold, there is joy in the process. Embrace today and don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow...and that's all that really matters."To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."
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