Summary: I recently read, ”Marley and Me” by John Grogan. It’s about a family and their yellow Labrador. The adventurous dog was put to sleep due to a terminal illness. When I finished the book, I was ok at first…and then I started thinking about my big old yellow lab, Travis, who died about 12 years ago. I shed more than a few tears as I thought about my faithful old friend. He had been my BEST friend; faithful, loyal, sensitive…my companion for years before I was married. The pain of his passing is still deep and I’m amazed that this is the case. While he was alive, Travis loved me unconditionally. Unconditional Love is what all humans want, but it is the most elusive of our desires. Strangely, as highly as people value unconditional love, we do not aspire to be such a person ourselves. We aspire to be wealthy, or famous, or pretty, or popular, or powerful, or a different color, and so on. All things which, in God’s scheme of things, are pretty much irrelevant. God’s desire for us is to be more like our canine friends…in a manner of thinking. To love each other selflessly; love rather than be ignorantly judgmental; Love unconditionally the way that God, while we were yet sinners and unworthy, loved us so much that he gave his Son for us. “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, all your soul and all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus didn’t need to say any more than that when summing up God’s will for us because the message is not so complex as to warrant further explanation! As for me, I intend to take a closer look at my priorities and aspirations and to be the person God wants me to be and, perhaps, to be more that kind of person that my dog thinks I am! Gerald Graham
