The Joy of Being Who I am by David Teems l Love and Family l Pets l Dogs

The Joy of Being Who I am: Five Things Our Dogs Would Like Us to Know

A dog understands what it means to be a dog much better than you and I understand what it means to be human. And she is happier for it. She sticks her head out the window and thinks to herself, “I am happy to be me because I know what that means. I am at peace with myself. I know where I fit in the scheme of things. I acknowledge nothing that frustrates me from being me. I can love you fully because I live fully. My surrender is absolute, because I understand myself absolutely.”

And that’s coming from a dog.

The following suggests five ways a dog can help us reimagine life with happier and more promising results.

A Dog Loves at Capacity

“I will never leave you or forsake you.” - Joshua 1:5

This is another promise the dog understands. To love at this extreme is sacrificial. Jesus proved that. It means loving someone more than you love yourself. It is the very essence of the Christian faith. Life becomes a kind of martyrdom, not of blood, but with a selflessness that scripture teaches and nurtures. Commitment like this comes easy to the dog. She does not vacillate. She does not waver. She puts the desire and safety of her master over her own. Life takes on the kind of nobility and highness God intended us to enjoy in the first place. By the way, the name Caleb, Joshua’s good friend, means “dog.”

The Dog Lives an Inspired Life

The devoted life is an inspired life. The dog shows us what little work devotion can be, that innocence lives by a faith it little thinks of and that needs little labor, if any, to sustain it. The dog has an indifference to wealth that is difficult to understand, as well as an indifference to trends and fashions of the hour. Celebrity means nothing to her. She is unmoved by the media. She is contented in love. Her creed is simple. “I have understanding,” she says, “which is better than information. I have true wisdom, which is better than knowledge. I have peace, which is better than the mere absence of struggle. I have love, which is above all things.”