Animals have always been a special apart of my life. When I saw my cousin
recently she mentioned visiting me when we were children and what stood out for her was that I had 32 salamanders in my room. On the same visit I found a frog and brought it into the house to show my family who were having breakfast. The frog escaped and landed right in my father’s scrambled eggs!
As well as enjoying the creatures that lived around my home, my family had a horse, dog, cat, hamster, and guinea pig.
The animals brought a great deal of love into my life and enriched it in many ways. I belief that animals are souls just like us and that they, too, are here on earth learning and growing.
I heard a couple of animal stories recently. My husband Jim was on the way
to work a week ago when he saw two cute little dogs running loose in the cold snow. One of them had a leash on like it had escaped from its owner. Jim stopped and put the dogs in his truck. One crawled on his lap and one curled onto a coat he had on the seat. He found a tag on one dog with the vet’s phone number. Then he called the vet who said he’d contact the owner. Jim drove to work and soon after he arrived the owner called. She didn’t know her dogs had gotten loose and drove right over to get them. The dogs stood at the window of the truck, excitedly looking out when she arrived. She and the dogs were happy to be reunited. As I reflect on the story I wonder how many times I’ve been in a situation where I could help, but decided I was too busy. But what a difference it made to those two dogs and their owners when Jim took the time to help them. In the future, I’ll try to be more aware of how I can serve in the world.
The other day Jim’s cousin Mary told me another story about a dog. She used
to be a teacher but had to quit when she got multiple sclerosis. When she left her job one of her friends, a school volunteer, said, “Someday I’m going to help you in some way.” The two women lost touch with each other and four or five years passed. Mary’s ms got worse and she needed a help dog. She went on a list to receive one and had to wait for awhile. Finally they had a trained golden lab for her. They told her that when you get a help dog you are to meet the dog trainer first. When Mary went to meet the trainer it turned out the woman was her old friend, the school volunteer. The friend was delighted that the dog, she’d been carefully training for four years, was going to Mary. Now Mary’s old friend comes to see her and the dog regularly. Mary’s friend’s desire to help was fulfilled in an unexpected way. I am always amazed when I hear stories like this at how wonderfully the universe works. Some people call them coincidences, but I think they are miracles. They show the ways in which God is constantly working in our lives.
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