My good friend Al sent me the following:
Location: Cochise Terrace RV Resort, Bensen, Arizona.
Annie, my German shepherd, was enjoying her morning walk when a retired, K-9 police officer on his motorcycle stopped to admire her. I quickly thought, this is not good! She did not like motorcycles or police type attitudes. Was I ever wrong…. he shut off his motorcycle, reached out his hand, and caressed her muzzle. Annie looked up at him and simply stared. His voice broke. She brushed away his hand and put her muzzle on his thigh and rested there.
I said, ” She just doesn’t do that!” He said, “I just lost my K-9 partner last week of kidney failure.” They’d had 12 years together; both had been shot at different times, and both retired together. (They carried their wounds well.)
He and I both broke down. We were two grown men crying like youngsters. Annie had sensed his grief and responded gently to him. We both learned how deep a shepherd’s “intuition” and sensing goes. I walked away asking God to give me some of that empathy and acknowledgement of people in their hurts.
The Scripture is full of such in the prophets, the disciples, the Lord, and others. Spiritual life and devotion lead the way!
1 Corinthians 12:26
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it
Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
Give it some thought.
Gary