We had a birthday party for our old lab. She sat with cocked head trying to figure out why there was a flame on top of her cupcake. I couldn’t get her to blow it out. So I helped. With long strings of drool almost reaching the floor, she stared into my eyes obediently waiting for the okay. I would guess one whole second passed after I nodded “yes” before the entire cupcake was swallowed. So much for savoring one’s food.
As I looked into her eyes I could not but notice they are milky. The clear dark wells of her youth have gone away. Yet I know even still she sees better than I. When we walk at night she spies the rabbits and skunks in the moonlight before I do. Occasionally we will spot the neighborhood coyote which often stands in the shadows and watches us go by. Neither he nor she seems fearful of each other. They just watch with interest. I must confess the chill that runs my spine.
She is 84 in dog years. I think she still looks great even though I have to help her up into the back of the truck. I hope I have her for yet another year. But I am not naïve for I can feel hard lumps in her that should not be there. Alas. I shall treasure each month, each week, each day as we should with all those we love. None of us are promised tomorrow, that is here. But we are promised an eternity of tomorrows. “The wages of sin are death but the gift of God is eternal life.” I have more than earned my wages. But I have no desire to collect them. It is the gift I want. The grandest thing of all is the gift that is given. Thank you Jesus.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 25, 2008.
Photograph by Jason Leung.
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574