Charlie

I am not sure that I wanted to write this post.  The sadness was a little too personal.  Eight days ago, I put my beloved dog, Charlie, down.  I know that this reveals how sheltered my life has been, bit it was one of the most traumatic things that I have ever done.  To see my great companion of eight years go from looking into my eyes to lying there lifeless was shocking (he was a few years old when we got him).  He had cancer, but I wondered if I put him down too soon.  After all, he could walk into the vet’s surgery and lean against my leg as we waited.   My overwhelming feeling was one of guilt, and I lunged my head onto his dead body and exclaimed, ‘sorry!’

Charlie was everywhere I went.  Don’t tell Caroline, but he would put his head on my lap as we drove together in the car.  When I walked into a room where he was, his tail automatically signalled his pleasure.  He was my most uncritical and admiring friend.  We had a wonderful bond.

Anyway, I am thankful to God.  I am thankful that God answered Caroline’s prayer for a dog, and gave her the black lab called Charlie she had asked for (he was actually a lab mix).  I am also thankful to God for the comfort I have felt over the last week.

The Bible passage that came to my mind was when the prophet Nathan challenged King David for stealing a man’s wife.  He likened David's actions to someone taking a person’s beloved pet lamb.  'The poor man had only one little female lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children.  She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter'  (2 Sam. 12:3).  This reminded me that God understands the love a person can have for an animal.  I also thought of the Proverbs, ‘a righteous person regards the life of his animals’ (Prov. 12:10).

On the Gospel Coalition website, Garrett Kell, writes, ‘if your god doesn’t care about the tears of a child who’s lost her beloved pet, then your god is too distant.’

Thank you God!