Dogs, Cats, Birds ... and The Honor Of Unconditional Love

By Kathy Thomas

What’s so great about pets? Some of them leave hair all over your furniture; you have to walk them, feed them, pick up lots of poop, find babysitters if you go away on vacation and pay a vet when they get sick or need shots. Pets can cost you a bundle and they demand a lot of your time. So what is so good about them? Could it be love?

Webster’s Universal Dictionary defines pet as a domesticated animal kept as a companion. And what is a companion? Often a friend.

My friend Diane, who has been ill for years and often has to spend a lot of time in bed, says her cats GusGus, Autumn and Gulliver, give her so much comfort and love when she is down and hurting. "They’ll even bring their toys up from downstairs and lay them next to me," Diane shared, "They try so hard to comfort me. They are much more loving than many people."

All our family loves pets, but I think our greatest pet lover is Courtney, our daughter who trains whales at Seaworld in San Diego. She loves any kind of fish or animal, and whenever any of us have animals they will immediately rush up to Courtney and love on her.

Courtney and Mia, her Australian Shepherd -- and her friend Shelby and her pug Rallo, have a ball together. Living in California they often take their dogs to the beach to play in the waves. Rallo even has his own life jacket! After this they follow this “treat” up with a trip to the do-it-yourself dog wash, which is a hoot. My husband Ned, and I, get a kick out of it.

Our other children have pets too, like Honey, who is tender, sweet and one of the slowest moving dogs on the planet! Or, if you feel like getting kissed all over there are Hugs and Kisses, and sometimes Hugs surprises us and she’ll jump right up into our arms. There is also a Great Dane called Baby, who slobbers with wet kisses and Peanut, her sidekick, a small mix, who is tiny and hyper ... and adores Baby.

All of these animals have distinct personalities, like Monroe and Emma Lucy, two family cats who run the home at our brother and sister-in-law’s. Monroe loves to jump up to the bar and put his paw on the counter, waiting and hoping you’ll feed him. And then there’s Sparky, our sis and brother-in-law’s last remaining child at home, an ancient 21 year-old Cockatiel, who still fly’s and hops around with a steel rod in one leg where the dog tried to chew it off.

Finally there is our Paulie. Paulie is our very own three-year-old Bare-Eyed white Cockatoo, who came to live with us almost four years ago, when our daughter Jen, found out she was pregnant with twins. Knowing how much attention cockatoos need, and knowing how busy the family would be soon, she asked us to adopt Paulie. Now most cockatoos live almost 70 years so we knew Paulie would outlive us, and when we go home to heaven he will fly back to Jen. Paulie has found a home in our heart even though he squawks, scatter seeds wherever he goes and makes a nuisance of himself as often as he can.. But when he cuddles on our shoulder or kisses us and talks to us, my husband Ned and I just melt. We are so in love with this tiny bundle of white feathers.

Because Paulies’ love for us is unconditional we love him, and keep right on loving him. It kinda reminds me of what God does for us. Which makes me wonder about those of us who cherish our pets, but forget about the honor bestowed upon us to cherish human life.

How often I’ve been driving down the street and a car will pull up next to me with a bumper sticker that reads something like, "Save the Whales," but right next to it is another sticker that reads," Pro-Choice." When the slaughter of aborted babies screams at us to save our children, so few object.
How will God judge America?

My life scripture is Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Love your pets, but invest your prayers into people. We can learn from our pets how to love, but let’s put it into practice with people.

I love you,

Kathy

Kathy Thomas is the director of Woman to Woman Ministries, INC of Tucson, which airs a weekly program on the Good Message Network, 940 AM in Tucson every Saturday at 2 pm. Kathy also hosts Woman to Woman on cable television Mondays on channel 74 at 4:30 p.m. and Wednesdays on channel 74 at 10:00 a.m.. The ministry is dedicated to the encouragement and healing of women. To learn more, see their web site: iwhome.com/woman.