Sorry it’s been a little while since I last posted a reflection. It was not Christmas and holidays that got in the way, but rather a dog with an appetite. Just after Christmas Jack became the poster-boy for why to make sure your dog can’t get your Christmas pudding… either that or he became the poster-boy for his new arthritis medication that worked so well, I am sure he reached a part of the kitchen counter that he had not been able to access for years.
Jack will be 14 in a few weeks and he came to me as a 3-month old puppy rescued by the ranger after being abandoned with his brother. He was so small that even if he had only been on the streets for a day, he would have been a very hungry little boy… and he has never forgotten that feeling of hunger. It has shaped his behaviour for his whole life.
Before I go onto reflecting about Jack and our spirituality, I have a very important point to make. None of this applies if you are in an abusive situation. Abuse – and not only physical abuse – is highly damaging to you and you are too valuable to be subjected to that. Find the supports to get out. You can still be compassionate and forgiving, and leave an abusive situation. You also need to be compassionate for yourself, which means protecting yourself in those damaging situations.
Jack quite simply is a good and loving dog, who sometimes does the wrong thing. I can understand how his background has made him into the dog he is, including his constant looking for food and his phobias (of dogs and bicycles). I can have compassion and help set him up for success which has slowly, slowly made a difference in his behaviour. When his anxiety gets a bit much, such as when a bike has gone past too close and too fast, I give him a cuddle to calm him down so he has a chance of doing the right thing next time.
Isn’t that so like what we all need. We don’t change our behaviour because of rules and regulations, but because we know that we are truly and deeply loved. And when we know we are loved, then we have the capacity to share that love with other people.
In the Gospels, Jesus only ever gives one rule (or one rule with two parts, depending on what Gospel we read). He simply says to love.