Sunday, November 29, 2020

Every Good and Perfect Gift....James 1:17

  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17


James 1:7 (KJV)


For those of you that have pets, do you ever think of them as gifts from God and something to be thankful for? And at the same time, do you think they are ever feel thankful for you?

It may seem at least a bit far fetched for some, but the fellow in today's story doesn't think so, and I tend to agree with him. See what you think after you read what he has to say about it.


How God Gave Me a Grateful Dog

For naysayers who say canines can’t make the emotional leap to gratitude, meet Gracie.

by Posted in , Nov 25, 2020




Well, I beg to differ. God gave me a grateful dog. Gracie may live in the moment but that doesn’t mean she isn’t grateful for the moment, that her awareness lacks that astuteness. Today, for instance, we were on a trail when we reached a section where I liberated her from her leash. Before rocketing up ahead, she paused and looked back. That look said only one thing: Thank you for the freedom. Then she was off, kicking up her hind legs like a colt and disappearing into the trees.

I have one more example for those naysayers who claim a dog can’t be thankful. At mealtimes, my wife Julee sets a place for Gracie on the floor next to her chair—a bowl waiting to be filled with bits of lean protein Julee dispenses from her plate. I do not share with our dog from the table but that’s another story.

At the end of every meal before I get up from my chair, Gracie lays her head on my thigh. This is not begging since she knows it would be to no avail. No, this is what Julee calls a hug. You see, I do most of the shopping and cooking. Gracie is well aware of this. She watches me intently, carrying in the groceries, grilling the meat, tossing the salad and serving the meal. She understands my role. After the meal is concluded, she lays her head gently on my thigh and looks up at me. More often than not she erupts with a guileless little burp. I know she is saying thank you.

This week I am grateful to Gracie—and to God for giving me such a demonstrably grateful golden retriever—for being a reminder to focus on my blessings in the wake of this heartless year when it would be too easy to surrender to pessimism and even despair. Gratitude is an experience of the moment, an instant when God’s grace becomes visible in your life. May you all, my friends, find much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

 
🐶

Our family have had many a pet over the years. Sometimes more then one at any given time. All have been rescued in some way or another. By being taken in when they have shown up at our door looking like they were half dead, to going to a rescue shelter where we adopted ones that had gotten there because they were abused, abandoned or their owners just could not keep them any longer for some reason 

I could tell you many stories of those we have had over the years. But I will stick to just one that I know is grateful that she came to live with us.

In 2018, we went to a shelter with the purpose of adopting a dog. A small one, because we are seniors now and can no longer handle the larger dogs like we have had in years past. We went through the shelter looking for just the right one and could not find any that we thought would be right for us. 

But then while we were still there, one of the staff came out into the lobby where I happened to be at the moment, carrying something wrapped in a towel. And she sat down and began rubbing the towel into a little Maltase Mix to dry her wet fur. She had been rescued in an alley, the girl told me and had come in just minutes before, matted and filthy. And she had just gotten a good bath.

They named her Allie, and right away I knew this was the one I wanted to take home. Of course, I had to wait a few days. She would be checked out by the veterinarian there and they would spray her first. But three days later, Allie came home to live with us. 

She took to me right away and she no longer lives in filth like she must have before. And her rib bones do not stick out like that of a dog that was not fed properly. She is a senior now and I know that she is grateful for not having to live outside and no doubt trying to find her next meal as she wondered the alley. As skinny as she had been, she would not have survived much longer. Senior or not, she loves being with me as I go through my day, and following happily behind me. 

God has given me all the precious gifts of pets I have had during my life. And I know that they have all been thankful that they have ended up in a home where they are loved and protected from whatever they had come from before they met us. How could they not be? Maybe not the way that we think of being grateful, but in whatever way that God gave them, when he created them.

🐶


Hello Friends. I apologize for not being able to post the past couple days. I hope I have no more problems to prevent me now. Anyway, thanks for coming and I should be here tomorrow. God bless you!





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