The Wild Loving

...of a dog

“You were the best dog” - “Big Jim,” who came into our lives in the form of a lion, as if he were God himself. Our calm, gentle protector, standing guard on a hill for a week, refusing to come in, as a historical fire was making it’s way toward us, nearly engulfing our home. He will be embedded in our hearts forever, bringing us instant tears every time we see his face.

15 
Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

16 And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

17 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

- Ecclesiastes 3:15-21

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There is nothing like the furry comfort of a dog. A childhood stuffy come to life… breathing heartbeat into yours.

The kind of dog that stares you in the face and willfully, silently draws you in, as you feel the baggage of your thoughts drop softly to the ground.

I have written a short series of “home” that describes the inanimate feelings of what a home can evoke. It is unwritten sentiment, scent, flavor, images that draw us home in our memories.

When home is a dog... life’s meaning takes on an extra special purpose. For both man and beloved pet, we never bargain that there will be an end that can come so quickly.. without notice.

Unconditional love giving rise to our deepest pains, leaving us to sit alone, empty-handed, our temporary gift matched to an uncertain temporal world.

With each and every Israeli hostage released, this past week, I was stunned to hear of a little dog named Bella, released with her owner, 17 year old Mia Leimberg. My first thoughts were “how did this happen?” There are a few conflicting stories out there of how Bella was snuck in or not? and how she survived. It will take months, if not years, to learn of the hostage’s stories and their time spent in captivity.

For now, for some reason, Mia Leimberg was able to take a dog out of the worst situation and into another one and they both survived. Truly miraculous in light…

And then there’s a dog named Rodney who spared himself with another dog, hiding in a neighboring kibbutz, refusing to leave the area where so much murder and mayhem took place around him, including the torture and slaughter of many pet dogs.

Books and movies have been written about dogs who lived through wars, served, and were part of a precious family life (get tissues). They come in all shapes and sizes, like us, with no real rhyme or reason as to why God allowed them to live to comfort and help us. Time and time again it speaks volumes to the often missed power of our Maker in just the right season, even when you think it’s the wrong season.

My mom’s childhood dog, “Major,” spent many days with her in a bomb shelter, during WW2, while my nana fetched food and work. Major also went out on the banks at night, serving alongside of mom’s father, a reserve soldier with the RAF, until he decided Major was a better companion for my mom. Little did she or my nana know he was planning to leave them forever as the war raged on.

My husband and I credit every dog we have ever rescued as rescuing us. We often look back and wish we had given as much to them as they did to us, yet life has it’s seasons and we are always learning from a dog.

We are like animals. Fate awaits us all. So how is it we can’t embrace, like a dog, what we have been given? Love people without judgement.

Trust the Way..

Longing to be “that happy in the heaven of earth… that wild… that loving.”

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 I had a dog
   who loved flowers.
         Briskly she went
              through the fields,

yet paused
   for the honeysuckle
         or the rose,
              her dark head

and her wet nose
   touching
         the face
              of every one

with its petals
   of silk,
         with its fragrance
              rising

into the air
   where the bees,
         their bodies
              heavy with pollen,

hovered—
   and easily
         she adored
              every blossom,

not in the serious,
   careful way
         that we choose
              this blossom or that blossom—

the way we praise or don’t praise—
   the way we love
         or don’t love—
              but the way

we long to be—
   that happy
         in the heaven of earth—
              that wild, that loving.

“Luke” by Mary Oliver from Dog Songs
(one of my very favorite poets)
I can see little Bella teaching Mia how to live again.

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October 16th, 2014, after 13 years with you. His faded red Kong ball, that greeted us for years, with a big furry handshake, unable to walk and hunt in his beloved garden - this was our final moment at home with Big Jim. I touched every part of our 1/2 acre after we said our last goodbyes, completely inconsolable.

"Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it watching for us to come home each day." – John Grogan, author of Marley & Me