The LORD of the Armies says this, “Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien, or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.”

Zechariah 7:9-10

Our youngest was not yet one year old when we visited the puppies.

Momma dog and her puppies were enclosed in a small barrier. Each child took their turn in the pen to carefully choose which one we were going to bring home. The youngest went last and gently played with the rolly polly puppies, impressing the owner that children could be so well behaved.

We chose the fattest, biggest, laziest, reddish puppy I ever saw.

And we brought home a Laser DeBroglie. Clifford the Big Red Dog would have fit him better.

The boys loved this new puppy. Our old, old Max (R.I.P.) dog, not so much.

He has been and continues to be a good dog.

Even when he gets out of the yard, he’s good. The neighbors love him. We take him to the doggie doctor when needed. He has been our strange dog that needed strange surgeries – knee, butt, skin – like a designer dog. The vets love him. He loves the vets.

That last appointment is going to rip our hearts open wide. He will get in the car, happy to see his friends.

He’s a good dog.

Lately, he has lost weight and gained bumps. He has tumors, hearing loss, and is on hospice. There are no more surgeries, no more magic IVs, no more pills to make him better. He is dying and we all know it. But we love him while we have him.

He’s a good dog.

I bought a gaming computer over a year and a half ago for my pictures and videos and the boys’ games. It unceremoniously died. A laptop did that not long ago and I lost everything. Now, I store everything on external drives. Thankfully, I lost nothing this time. Except two weeks of updating the books, editing photographs, and Facebook. The latter could have stayed gone.

In my intermittent internet time, our nation bombed another nation, books became banned, a modern day genocide is occurring with a particular people group, and my friends fight about politics over Facebook posts and memes. Relationships strain and break under the heavy weight of disagreement, misunderstandings, and anger.

The broken computer was fixed. Broken relationships are not easily made whole.

And we can be so cruel in our relationships. We hurt each other. We lie to one another. We hate those not like us. So, we bomb people we don’t know. We burn words we find disagreeable. We kill whole people groups that are different from us. We fight with our brother and sister because they believe lies and misinformation or think we do.

My lumpy dog limps around. Yet, his gait lightens, his step quickens when he sees a treat from one of us. He loves his people even though we are nothing like him. He’s a good dog.

My deaf dog doesn’t know what our nation did. He literally accepts everyone who enters our yard. And has tried to go home with more than a few of our friends. He is a good dog.

My big, red dog doesn’t even know what a book is except that they are great fun to chew on. He relishes in our uplifting words towards him. He is a good dog.

My hospice dog has no idea what a genocide is, but he understands when people fight. Even in my home, we feel the heavy weight of disagreement, misunderstandings, and anger. Still, he is a good dog.

Laser DeBroglie simply loves us and accepts us and finds ways to make us pet him. He’s a good dog.

I wonder if God created dogs to remind us of unconditional love. God exemplifies faithful love, loving kindness, and extreme mercy and forgiveness. Of course He gave us this animal to remind us of Him.

God tells us (and shows us how) to be kind to one another. But how can we do that if we are not kind to Him.

We are so cruel in our relationship with God. We disregard the beauty He sends to us every sunrise and sunset. We ignore the wonder in our souls looking into the mysteries of this world. We take for granted the affection of our animals, friends, family. We hurt those others He put in our life to love and care for.

What does God want? What does God desire? What is God’s heart?

• For us to love mercy and love each other. He is a good God.
• For us to make wise judgements. He is a just God.
• For us to care for the hurting, the widow, the orphan. He is a kind God.
• For us to extend grace on those who look differently, believe differently, speak differently than us. He is a merciful God.
• For us to help carry the burden of the poor. He is an abundant God.
• For us to love those who are our brothers and sisters, our fellow believers in Christ. He is a redemptive God.

I’ve got my computer back and reinstalled all the programs and games. I spent hours fixing our books and finding photos of my good dog. My boys downloaded their games and not so patiently waited their turn to play. My dog lays around most of the day, oblivious to all the challenges and trials this world is engulfed in.

He is a good dog. I need patience with him and grace because he is different from me. I don’t always understand him, but I work to listen to his needs and then supply them. The time will come when he will die, but it will be on God’s time not mine. Till then, he will love us and we will love him.

He shows me that there is a good God who watches how I treat the least of these.