People can learn a great deal from animals. For instance, today I read a news story about a dog being abandoned in front of an animal shelter on the 4th of July. The shelter was closed for the holiday, but a police officer saw a cardboard box and the small dog tied to a nearby pole, so he investigated.
When he saw two tiny babies in the box he wasn’t surprised until he realized they weren’t puppies but kittens. The dog jumped in with them, and they began nursing from her. When the officer turned them over to a foster pet home, the foster mom promised to keep them together until the kittens were weaned. She also complimented the dog’s actions: “All she knew, she was a mother, and these were babies, and they needed her.”
This story appeals to us because we project human characteristics onto animals who are behaving well. Experts tell us dogs and cats operate on instinct not reason, but sometimes we wonder. This dog’s unlikely behavior blurs the line as she overcame specie-obstacles to feed and care for animals that weren’t “of her kind.”
I often see the same blurred lines between instinct and reason when I watch two of our family dogs, Jack and his cousin Sydney. To see them greet each other down a road or across a stretch of beach is to watch a demonstration of pure joy as they run together to sniff, lick, and circle. They don’t even balk at sharing the same food bowl, politely taking turns eating together, a fine example of sharing.
Humanly speaking, sharing with others isn’t always easy. We may offer something to another, but our heads might be thinking, “There won’t be enough for me now,” or “She’s taking the one I’d wanted.”
As soon as children can speak, one of their favorite words is, “Mine!” spoken while yanking a toy from another child. When we get older, we squelch our “Mines!” but oftentimes they’re rumbling just below the surface. Because of this, when my kids were young we memorized Hebrews 13:16. I needed it as much as they did: “To do good and share, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
Young children don’t especially care about pleasing God, but the rest of us ought to be thinking about that. It’s interesting that Scripture labels sharing as a “sacrifice”. God wants us to know he recognizes how difficult it is, and that, of course, is the whole reason our sharing pleases him well.
I don’t think the dog in the news considers it any big deal to care for those two kittens; she’s just genuinely happy to help. But strange as it may sound, I think she’s getting some special credit with God.
Paul wrote, “Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)