The Loss Of A Pet

We lost our Lily on May 3, it was five years less a day since we lost our Lina, that was on May 4.  The following day a friend called to tell me that they would have to put their puppy to sleep on May 6. A few days later, after a conversation with my friend, I felt I needed to write him.

What a mysterious gift God has given us in our pets. Mysterious and undeserved. 

Good morning dear friend,

I know I need to write you this morning, not to assuage your pain at the loss of Buddy, but to simply walk with you in some measure; not to give you answers, but to listen with you for that Voice of assurance. (Maybe even for that bark that communicates “all is well”.)

Little did I know when I answered the phone last Saturday that I was to hear that you too, with Steph, were about to lose your beloved puppy (they are always puppies to me).

Lily’s mind and her eyes were bright last Friday, but her little body was sick, it was too much for her. An old man and an old woman and an old dog went into the animal hospital, but only the old man and old woman got back into the car. I had expected to bring her home after her examination, I did not anticipate driving home through a veil of tears.

While I have been reliving those final minutes and moments, they are too much to write about at present, but I do want to tell you that she gave me lots of kisses – which was especially special, for while she always gave Vickie kisses, she seldom kissed me.

The other thing I know I want to say is that we needed to be there for her and with her as she left us. Lily trusted us with her life and she trusted us with her death – and is this not sacred?

As we were saying goodbye to Lily, I said to Dr. Kevin, “I’m glad you are the one.” He replied, “I’m glad too.” For you see, Kevin cared about Lily, she mattered to him, he is a gentle soul. I would not have wanted a stranger to do what Kevin was doing.

This was the same with my Dad’s funeral. I led his funeral because I did not want a stranger to do it, and I certainly didn’t want someone who didn’t know Jesus to do it. (While we have never talked about it, certainly it was sacred for you and Steph to have your sister June with you during her final season of life – this is the way it once was, we were with one another until our parting, we did not isolate one another nor warehouse one another.)

So my dear friend, what I am saying is that you did not betray your dear Buddy anymore than our heavenly Father betrays us when we lay this body down – or even when it is taken from us through violence. Yes, death is a hideous reality laden with grief – and who can plumb the depths of grief? But death is also abolished, it has been destroyed in and through Jesus Christ – and therefore it is a short-term reality, an intrusion into our pilgrimage (as painful as it is).

I run to 2 Timothy 1:10, “…[He] abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.”

I shelter in Hebrews 2:15 - 16, “…and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives, for assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham.”

And I shout through my grief, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

I’ve been singing “Because He Lives” and including words about puppies in it, I’ve been including Lily…just as you can include Buddy.

We know that just as Creation has suffered in our slavery and sin, that it will also participate in our redemption and restoration:

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (Romans 8:19 – 22).

If I take Paul’s words at face value, then Creation knows more than we think it does, and it knows more about us than we know about ourselves – for it is eagerly awaiting our revealing in Christ, while we still tend to think of ourselves as either paupers or we act as arrogant fools.

One of the things about dogs is that they are innocent and we are not, and that makes it pretty hard at times to live with them and terrible when we lose them. I say that it is hard at times to live with them because their self-giving and innocence reveals my selfishness and sin – Ha! They do a better job at convicting me of sin than any preacher ever did.

I love the final pages of The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis, for it shows us reunited with those we love, including souls in Creation.

One week ago today, at about 2:00 P.M., we lost our Lily…O how my heart beats with the expectation that we will see one another again. I fully expect to be greeted by our puppies and that we will all frolic in the New Jerusalem…others may call me a fool…but let it be said that I am a fool who places all of his hope in Christ…all of it.

 

Your friend… in grief as in joy…

 

Bob