- “Good people care for their animals; wicked people are cruel to theirs." ~ Proverbs 12:10
She appeared in the wintery, dead
of night – alone, hungry, and more than half dead. Where there should’ve been soft downy fur,
big patches of hair were gone from continually gnawing at inflamed raw skin. At first Rosie couldn’t even tell she was a
dog.
Her eyes had no shine and she lacked the exuberance a puppy
should have. Soft whimpers escaped her tiny
mouth in pathetic peeps. Rosie lived out
in the country and had to run off several wild dogs looking for food each
week. But one look into those frightened
little brown eyes and she couldn’t . . . not this time . . . not this one.
Luckily the battered pup had stumbled on an old woman who
rarely gave up on anything, even decades-old National Geographics. She saved the wire from spiral notebooks,
empty coffee cans, and enough matchbooks to start a forest fire. Rosie salvaged whatever she could before any
appliance entered the afterlife. There’s
always a little use, a little life left in anything, and who’s to say when
something is done for good.
She knew better than to call the vet; she knew what he’d
do. This dog was too far gone to save;
any fool could see that.
She fed her, gave her water, and bathed her in Desitin (she’d
kept from her 17 year old granddaughter’s diaper rash years ago) to treat the
mange.
When Angel got to looking a bit less shocking, she called
the vet. Still a sack of bones, he
diagnosed heartworm. “It would be
compassionate,” he told the stubborn, old woman, “to put her down.”
Rosie nodded.
Weeks later, the beautiful chocolate lab stood watch at the
front of Rosie’s house. It was no
miracle; her condition didn’t magically improve. Rosie had effectively ‘recycled’ the little
fur ball with compassion, love and prayer.
Now she sleeps at the foot of Rosie’s bed, eats people food,
and drinks buttermilk from a slightly used Frisbee. She guards her human like the Secret Service –
scaring away garden snakes and (at least in her own mind) thunderous lightning. Their mutual partnership would continue for
many years all because of an old woman’s stewardship.
Animals are precious beings in God's eyes - not human
property, nor utilities or commodities.
We Christians understand the horror of crucifixion and the misery of
innocent suffering. Rosie identified
with the weak, vulnerable, and unprotected.
Something in those tortured, angelic eyes reminded her that animals are
a sacred trust from our Heavenly Father.
God of the universe, thank You for Your many
gifts - for the beauty of creation and it’s rich and varied fruits, for clean
water and fresh air, for food and shelter, animals and plants. Forgive us for the times we’ve taken the
earth's resources. Amen
