Puppies, Love and God

Praying for the laity and clergy of the Mountain Sky Conference as we prepare ourselves to gather for Sunday worship.

When I was at Glide, one of the teachers talked about how he keeps a scrapbook filled with pictures of puppies. When a child begins to act out, the teacher pulls out his scrapbook and shows it to the child. Almost immediately, the behavior of the child would change: the child would let go of anger or feelings of distress and begin to soften. In no time at all, the child would be able to reengage with the class.

I’ve thought about the teacher’s tactic often. What is it about puppies that disarms and delights us?

I once attended a lecture on spirituality and love. The speaker talked about how everyone craves love, but all too often makes the mistake of seeking it “out there”. As the song goes, “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” But the love you feel is not coming from out there. It’s coming from within you. For instance, the speaker said, when you see a puppy and feel love, it’s not coming from the puppy. The love is already in you and has been released.

I John 4: 7-12 reminds us:

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.”

“If we love, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.”

There is within each of us a wellspring of love, whose source is God. How can we, as the Body of Christ, help one another release this love that dwells in each of us? In an age where anger, hatred, and division seem to have the upper hand, how can we hold up a mirror to one another, reminding us that we are made in God’s image, that God dwells within us, and that inside us there is a limitless supply of love?