An unexpected epiphany added a new lens to my vision. It occurred during a walk with our beagle named Bosco. He seems to be a magnet for many thoughts which his mere presence instigates without any thought or effort. While walking, he came to a sudden stop and stared behind us. He saw a small dog with his owner and never misses the opportunity to meet a new dog. The other dog walker asked if Bosco was a full blooded beagle. I said he was, adding that he had been a research dog, fortunate enough to be rescued. The guy asked if he came from the local research lab, to which I nodded my head. He told me he did maintenance work in that facility and couldn’t believe what they were doing to those dogs. He said he didn’t think any of those beagles ever left that facility. I told him there has been enough pressure that many have now been set free, and almost every beagle in our neighborhood was likely rescued from that lab.
We moved on as I didn’t want to hear any stories of what he saw. That conversation reminded me never to blame Bosco for any of his awkward behavior toward me, as he was locked in a cage for the first three years of his life. He is conditioned by things I don’t want to know about, and his behavior is a result of what he experienced. I have come to accept that his wariness, at times, is not about me but the result of something about me that reminds him of someone in that lab. I have learned to be more thankful that he is free than jealous I don’t get the attention from him that he gives to everyone else. He can’t control what others have made him to be. Such thoughts remind me to consider the same possibilities for how I am sometimes treated by other people in my life, whose actions are hard to understand or explain. (Or how I treat others, without even realizing what I am doing.) are products of our environment and easily conditioned to behave in ways others might find inappropriate. I have heard you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but that is no excuse not to try. Similarly we can learn to treat others with the same love that God has shared with you and me.
Maybe it isn’t fair to forgive when we would rather get even or hurt as we have been hurt, but Jesus has taught us a new way to live. When living doesn’t revolve around me but the greatest undeserved love ever, it changes my perspective. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone was perfect? And yet, because we are not, that is why God’s love has been so extravagant toward each of us. It is not our light that we are called to shine into the darkness but His. Sometimes we need not react to the storm but the loving God who can make seas calm. All of us can act impulsively without considering the witness of our actions. But having been set free by the perfect love of Jesus gives each of us the opportunity to learn new tricks based on such love. Everyone has cages in their past, but it is the love of Jesus that should color our present and future!