Dog Nose – Part 3

The nose, the eyes, the smile. Of course dogs smile.

Dogs who are secure in the love of their family (pack) smile, just watch them while they are asleep, watch them as they watch you. You may say that it’s just anthropomorphic nonsense – really?

The relationship of man to dog has many possibilities – on the lowest end it is one of crass exploitation akin to the gladiatorial games – when the heart and mind and soul of man are debased to the point that man takes evil pleasure in the abuse of dogs. On the higher end there is the mysterious loving relationship of man and symbiotic friend.

Paul indicates that creation is not as it should be, but that when mankind entered a state of corruption that creation shared in that condition, this is why creation’s release from the “slavery to corruption” is linked to the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:20ff). Yahweh, through the prophet Isaiah, promises that the “wolf and the lamb will graze together (Isaiah 65:25); things are not what they should be but a day will come when they will be what they are meant to be.

Suppose that just as debased man can cruelly bring creation down to torment that redeemed man can experience some measure of bringing creation up from corruption? Those men and women who respond in some measure to the image of God within them are more likely to care for creation (whether they recognize it as creation or as an evolutionary process), and those who are experiencing redemption have the opportunity (seldom taken) to carry that care to a higher level by recognizing that there is a Divine mandate and stewardship given to them in their care and relationship to creation.

Do dogs smile? There are those who think they don’t and then there are those who know they do. Those who know they do have the joy of knowing that smile, just as they have the joy of looking into the dog’s eyes…and just as they know the joy of being touched by a dog’s wonderful wet nose.