Blog 801 – 10.21.2017

And There Was A Dog

I recently saw the wonderful movie, The Mountain Between Us, and was trying to describe it succinctly to a friend and said, “It is a great love story, with lots of snow, and there was a dog.” I love great love stories, I love snow, and I love dogs so it was a perfect movie for me.

Most all of my life I have been a sucker for a dog story. When I first saw the attached picture hanging in a restaurant in Mineral Point, Wisconsin over a year ago I knew I would have to write a blog just so I could share this picture. The love and support we as children felt from our pets, especially dogs, is so typified in this picture. The little girl has been sent to the corner for some infraction but her loyal pooch does not just sympathize with her he goes to the corner with her. Now that is love.

All loves have their root, I think, in the One Great Love who is always in our corner, doesn’t pick sides but loves us completely and individually. We, most of us have a big problem loving like that. We usually can with the one that we often refer to as “the great love of our life” overlook their short comings and even in many cases forgive them for loving others which sadly we see as a great disloyalty to us. Romantically we sometimes say you cannot choose who you love. I say rather that we can only choose who we pretend not to love.

One of my favorite sexy loves songs has the words, “My Baby, she’s made out of love, like one of those Bunnies out of the Playboy Club – got the kind of loving, kissing and a hugging – sure is better, glad that I’m her feller. And I know that she knocks me off my feet. Have mercy on me.” I submit to you that we are all made out of and from love and that it is so natural for us to love everything and everyone that most of us have to spend a life time working hard at it to even pretend not to.

We have seen it in a baby smiling at a stranger and in the wave of a small child who may have never met us but immediately recognizes the goodness, the greatness, and spark of love in us. People of all ages have this great gift of loving with a look, a smile, or a wave, and of literally making someone’s day in the wink of an eye.

I believe as the little boy said talking about dogs that they live shorter lives than people because we are all here to learn how to love and they already know. We people know how too or at least we did when we first arrived but the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches sometimes make us forget why we are here – to love. Sadness comes at times to all of us like the little girl in the picture, but you can be sure that you have a friend even more loyal and loving that her puppy. You are never alone in any corner.

James Taylor sings a wonderful song called, You’ve Got A Friend:

“When you’re down and troubled

And you need a helping hand

And nothing, woe, nothing is going right.

Close your eyes and think of me

And soon I will be there

To brighten up your even your darkest night.

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I’ll come running, oh yeah Baby,

To see you again

Winter, spring, summer, or fall

All you’ve got to do is call

And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah

You’ve got a friend.”

What name do you call out in the middle of the night? There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, knows where you live, lives there too, inside of you. You’ve got a friend.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White