How beautiful. I love the idea of a cemetery as a garden. And I can relate to the ant, I almost cried today while mowing the lawn; I think I hit a pretty little blue lizard, I found him in my wake. Thank you for this wonderful meditation and good luck with the painting, the detail looks wonderful.
Thank you for sharing the post and for your comment. I really appreciate it. Got some gut punches yesterday, so was again reminded of how complicated we make things. The lessons always press us closer to the ground, it seems, as if life wants us to stay close to it. Walking, growing sugar snap peas, being where lightning bugs are, and allowing the heart to bruise over creatures of all kinds are good things that ground us. Thanks again.
This is so perfectly timely for me today--even before I read the part about walking your dog in the graveyard. I'm a month on from putting down our beloved dog, our delight we walked daily in a beautiful graveyard. We put down this trusting creature because she was 99% perfect but 1% very dangerous to others. Even with extreme vigilance we'd had too many close calls. I'm still weeping daily. She was my mother's dog. We lost Mom with only 34 days warning in 2022 (pancreatic cancer - we thought she was perfectly healthy at 85). I'm clinging to the restoration - the New Heaven and New Earth. I know I will see Mom again (and so many others), I'm praying for God's mercy that He will include our precious pup as well. I feel so silly, but it hurts. I think it will forever hurt because it is a fact of our Fall and the resulting pain we've caused on all of God's creatures. Sorry, I'm rambling...
It’s ok to ramble. We find ourselves in weeds and thorns and it’s hard to have the spirit just be still. I understand. When I think of losing a loved one, I can do it easily - with twinges of pain, obviously, but it is different when I think of our dog.
My chest collapses.
They are always on our side, always ready to see us, always good. They are simple and without guile.
Our love for them must stem from our heart’s knowledge of our real home, even if our mind and body cannot recall that paradise so clearly.
If there are streets and dwelling places and foundations of jewels and trees and all the rest mentioned of heaven (the new heaven is a physical place, after all. Jesus has a body…),
then my position is that animals will certainly be there.
Your dog knew you loved them. You gave them all you could. We are badly bruised from the love we carry, but it is love we must carry, even if it kills us. In fact, love, true love, will kill us. It is absolutely fatal.
And yet,
It is our key to the dwelling place Christ is preparing for those who love him.
Your love and your dog have something to do with paradise (as Seraphim Rose said), so take heart!
We do not know much about paradise, but it is a place of unimaginable abundance of good things, perfect. And we know something of God - that He is love.
Take heart! Cry, hurt, but trust in God. He knows. He feels. Your heart’s argument is heard in the court of heaven, and the Judge is biased.
How beautiful. I love the idea of a cemetery as a garden. And I can relate to the ant, I almost cried today while mowing the lawn; I think I hit a pretty little blue lizard, I found him in my wake. Thank you for this wonderful meditation and good luck with the painting, the detail looks wonderful.
Thank you for sharing the post and for your comment. I really appreciate it. Got some gut punches yesterday, so was again reminded of how complicated we make things. The lessons always press us closer to the ground, it seems, as if life wants us to stay close to it. Walking, growing sugar snap peas, being where lightning bugs are, and allowing the heart to bruise over creatures of all kinds are good things that ground us. Thanks again.
This is so perfectly timely for me today--even before I read the part about walking your dog in the graveyard. I'm a month on from putting down our beloved dog, our delight we walked daily in a beautiful graveyard. We put down this trusting creature because she was 99% perfect but 1% very dangerous to others. Even with extreme vigilance we'd had too many close calls. I'm still weeping daily. She was my mother's dog. We lost Mom with only 34 days warning in 2022 (pancreatic cancer - we thought she was perfectly healthy at 85). I'm clinging to the restoration - the New Heaven and New Earth. I know I will see Mom again (and so many others), I'm praying for God's mercy that He will include our precious pup as well. I feel so silly, but it hurts. I think it will forever hurt because it is a fact of our Fall and the resulting pain we've caused on all of God's creatures. Sorry, I'm rambling...
It’s ok to ramble. We find ourselves in weeds and thorns and it’s hard to have the spirit just be still. I understand. When I think of losing a loved one, I can do it easily - with twinges of pain, obviously, but it is different when I think of our dog.
My chest collapses.
They are always on our side, always ready to see us, always good. They are simple and without guile.
Our love for them must stem from our heart’s knowledge of our real home, even if our mind and body cannot recall that paradise so clearly.
If there are streets and dwelling places and foundations of jewels and trees and all the rest mentioned of heaven (the new heaven is a physical place, after all. Jesus has a body…),
then my position is that animals will certainly be there.
Your dog knew you loved them. You gave them all you could. We are badly bruised from the love we carry, but it is love we must carry, even if it kills us. In fact, love, true love, will kill us. It is absolutely fatal.
And yet,
It is our key to the dwelling place Christ is preparing for those who love him.
Your love and your dog have something to do with paradise (as Seraphim Rose said), so take heart!
We do not know much about paradise, but it is a place of unimaginable abundance of good things, perfect. And we know something of God - that He is love.
Take heart! Cry, hurt, but trust in God. He knows. He feels. Your heart’s argument is heard in the court of heaven, and the Judge is biased.
Thank you! Yes, to all of that. If we can delight so in a creature, how deep must His love be for us?