In talking to friends and reading Facebook I hear stories of people who have lost their pets. Photographs are posted on Facebook of their experiences with pets and the moments of final embrace of a beloved dog or a cat. The level of grief experienced can be as great as losing a mother, a father, or a child. You and I know that pets are people too.
I have written the chapter in my book, Bending Angels, about my first pet, a dog named Brownie. Brownie was presented to me by my grandfather. At age seven I had just come home from the hospital. I felt like I had lost everything. I was paralyzed. I felt as lonely and as abandoned by God as my bicycle gathering dust in the garage.
There was a big hole in my life and in my spirit which seemed bottomless. Empty. Broken. Without a destination to something good. But, at that moment my grandfather placed in front of me a galvanized bucket full of vegetables from his garden. He said, “Bubba, look in this bucket and tell me if there something in it you want.” Leaning forward and looking down in the bucket I saw a six-week old Cocker spaniel puppy mutt mix. The puppy had big round eyes which looked like saucers, saucers lapping me with love spilling over the edges.
I learned about God’s unconditional love from my dog, Brownie. Also, I first experienced the grief that is known in the death of someone or something I loved. I could describe more of that feeling with you in this prayer. But, this week I choose not to.
I follow a column, Sean of the South. This column shows up in my inbox to start my day. The author posted a column this week entitled, All Dogs Go to Heaven. Rather than posting my experiences with the life and death of Brownie, instead I share with you this Sean of the South article. When you read it be prepared to laugh hysterically and then use a Kleenex or two at the end of the article. Here is the link to the article.
https://seandietrich.com/all-dogs-go-to-heaven/
God has spoken to us in Scripture about our pets.
Job 12:7
But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Revelation 5:13
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Let us pray together.
Dear God, in prayer I thank You for my pets through whom I have received Your love, compassion, and care.
God, I know that I am imperfect. But, I am so blessed to get to know Your unconditional love for me from my pets.
God, please help me take good care of my pets. I know that I should love them and care for them as You do me.
God, please help others open their hearts and their homes to pets who need to be adopted and have been abandoned by others.
God, I look forward to being reunited with my pets who have crossed or will cross the Rainbow Bridge to the place where I, my loved ones, and Your creatures great and small will live together forever. Amen
If you like this prayer, please share.
If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click on here to go to Amazon.
Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.
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