PETs ARE A GIFT OF
GOD's DIVINE LOVE
THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF A PET
IS PART OF GOD's DIVINE PLAN
Throughout our lives, we have all heard a tremendous amount about
unconditional love. We hold it as the ultimate form of love. We feel it for our
children, and for many of us, we feel it for our parents. But even those bonds
can be torn within the realm of human experience, for we easily become
victims of hurt feelings or the backlash of our own words towards others.
Most of us are fortunate to have had loving families and have been the
recipient of the true unconditional love from our parents. And every parent
knows the unconditional love for a child, even if the child does
not return the love.
Sadly, many people have never known what it feels like to share true
unconditional love between other human beings. Many have become
disillusioned at what they thought was unconditional love, only to find in
the end that there were indeed conditions in place that were not met.
In fact, except in the case of parent's instant and lasting unconditional
love for their child, nearly all human relationships begins with conditions
in place before we trust other human beings with our hearts. The unconditional
love of adults for other adults generally is a gift of the heart that is
opened and offered over time as trust, respect and character are
observed and friendship develops.
So where is the unconditional love in this world that we hear about?
We hear that God loves us unconditionally, and yet we do not see it or
feel it or receive it from most of our human relationships. If one has never
had children or did not grow up in a loving home, they might never
have experienced that instant and lasting love that is beyond
conditions and stands through all time.
Where do we find this love within our daily lives pouring from God's
heart and falling directly upon us in a personal way, through relationships
of others in our lives? We truly do know that God loves us. He provides
many miracles in the lives of each of us and we see His protection, His mercy,
His grace, His guidance and we feel Him in our hearts. And yet, because
we are human, despite God's gentle hand upon our lives, we still reach
out to find expressions of His unconditional love through our interpersonal
relationships with others.
We need that living love to be expressed to us and from us in a reciprocal
"real" relationship, for God has created us as social human beings. We need
the love of others in our lives or we fall into depression and despair. it is
a proven fact that those that have someone to love live longer lives and
remain healthier for a longer period of time. Having someone to care
for and having someone in our lives that cares for us in return is actually
important for our physical and mental health, as well as our longevity!
So where do we find this unconditional love within the expression
of our interpersonal relationships? Where do we find the ones that love
us without conditions, who stand by us no matter what is going on in our
lives? Who loves us no matter how we look, no matter what we weigh, no
matter how many wrinkles we have or what our hair looks like? Who
thinks we are beautiful from the inside out because they do not
care about physical appearance? Who loves us when we come home
from a bad day at work and is happy just to have us with
them even if we are in a horrible mood?
Who loves us the same and expresses that love without question?
One of the most common reasons that marriages break up between
"soul mates" are financial problems. Who loves us just the same even if
we are unable to pay our bills, if we have found ourselves deeply in debt
or unable to balance a bank account? Who loves us the same whether
we are meticulous housekeepers or creatively messy slobs? Who stays with
us and stands by us when we lose our jobs, lose our health, lose our own
dignity and self-respect, lose our financial stability or our ability to
function under such stresses? Who stands by us when we make
poor decisions or make mistakes that cost us through
misjudgment or ignorance?
Who forgives us when we make mistakes, or worse yet, continually
make the same mistakes? Who stands with us without question even though
we are so flawed in our humanness? Who is glad to see us even when we
are very late coming home? Do our human family members jump up and
greet us excitedly with smiles and jump for joy just for the mere
fact that we have walked through the door? Who loves us in such a
way as this? Where is this unconditional love to be found? We all know that
except for most parent-child relationships, most human love does indeed
have its limitations and conditions.
The ones that bring us this unconditional love are our pets. These are the
ones that provide us with God's Living Love and become our loyal companions,
who stand by us through thick and thin. These are the innocent hearts that
are able to love us in the way that they do because love is who they are.
They accept us as God accepts us. They forgive our shortcomings and
mistakes. They don't care what we look like and see our hearts clearly as
if our bodies were transparent. This is how God sees us. He created our
bodies and knows its limitations, but He looks at our hearts. Animals
bring us unconditional love in a personal way so that we can feel that
love of God in our everyday lives.
This is especially important for those who are alone in this world, having
lost their human loved ones along the way or for those that are loners or
for other reasons such as physical disabilities remain cut off from their
communities. Our pets are like little droplets of God's love that have
rained down from heaven into our lives, bringing us tidings of great joy.
We hold unconditional love as the highest expression of love and we
know intuitively that it is divine in nature. And our pets bring us that
in their innocence because that is the only way they know how to love us.
It takes a great deal of abuse, neglect or even training to turn domesticated
pets from naturally reaching out to a human being with their open hearts.
We find pets that have become dangerous or vicious, if it cannot be
explained by ill health or pain that the pet is suffering, we can generally
trace such behaviors back to mistreatment, abuse or neglect of the animal
in the hands of people. It takes a lot to turn pets away from their natural
state, which is so accepting and expressive of joy and love.
Unconditional love is what we seek as human beings. Our pets give us
that, and nearly always it comes right from the start. Unless an animal is
in recovery in a rescued situation or have been wild-caught, they stand ready
and waiting with open hearts to love us. They are God's innocent messengers
of His ever-present grace and love. And through our close relationships
with these special little souls, we ourselves are brought to our higher
expressions of living spirit and grow in our own spiritual development.
Through the unconditional love of our pets, we learn what true loyalty is,
what true acceptance is, and what true companionship is. These are the
spiritual gifts that our pets show us for they are given these qualities
from the Father and are born with the natural ability to express them.
Unconditional love from our pets comes directly through the grace of God.
When they pass away, we miss them often more than we miss our human
loved ones and often grieve more deeply for their loss. Why? Because
they loved us unconditionally and there is perhaps no one on earth who
imparted to us that highest form of love, that most spiritual
form of love, or perhaps called it up from within our own hearts, than
our beloved pet. They call US to love another in that divine,
unconditional way.
For God is great and in His infinite wisdom, He knows that even when
we are not able to love our brethren of our human family, we are able to
love His creatures because they bring sweet messages of a love much
greater than human love - that love which is Divine.
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