From Riki Schoppert, Director of Worship Arts …
Meet my new dog, Franklin! We brought him home from a shelter last week and boy, have our lives been changed. We’d been living a fairly quiet existence with our adult children either independent or mostly not home. We came and went as we pleased. We ate when and where we pleased. We slept and woke when we pleased. Not anymore. This guy needs a lot of attention and, like any new baby, he isn’t really interested in anyone’s schedule but his own. And for now, that’s the way it’s going to be. Adjustments take time, and for every person and animal the needs are different. But boy howdy, given how loving and snuggly he is, the uproar is well worth it!
When we lost our last dog two and a half years ago, I didn’t think I’d ever want another dog. She was so great and the whole family was wrecked when she got sick. She was a constant in our lives for 13 years and then we had to let her go. I grieved long and hard. But as time passed, I was able to look back and smile, as opposed to look back and cry. By the end of last summer, I was thinking I was ready to love a new fur baby. I started looking at adoption sites and started trying to talk my husband into it. It took us awhile to come to terms, but we did and now we have Frankie. I learned from a counselor at one of the shelters we visited that everyone who loses a pet mourns differently. Some people look to adopt practically the next day after the loss, while others wait 10 years. None of it is wrong, it’s just that grief is a tricky thing and everyone’s walk is different. All I know right now is that I feel so blessed to have him in my life. Now if only we could get him housebroken…
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4