Devotional 3-16-17

I will be their dog, and they shall be my people.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33b)

One evening, as usual, Mary showed me a picture of a dog she had helped earlier that day as part of her volunteer work at the animal shelter. The little boxer mix with blue eyes had been rescued from a neglect situation, and Mary had taken him to be neutered so he could be adopted by a loving family. We thought we would probably not get another male dog. And we definitely didn’t want a puppy. We weren’t quite settled in our new home. We hadn’t yet fenced the yard. But, when I saw that picture it was all over. Cooper came home on March 16, 2017.

Cooper turned out to be a couple months younger than we had thought, and he quickly grew a little bigger than we anticipated. He torments Rufus the Cat. He jumps when he gets excited. He’s chewed a few pieces of furniture. He digs holes in the yard and leaves very large muddy paw prints. Cooper is not perfect. But, he’s perfectly Cooper. He is our dog and we are his people.

Part of my Saturday morning routine this past summer was to take Cooper for a walk at Valley Park where the farmer’s market is set up. We would make a few laps around the path, and on the last leg, I would pick up some fresh produce. People—especially kids—are drawn to Cooper, just like we were. One morning, we met a woman with four toddlers. One of the little girls asked politely if she could pet my dog. I held his harness while all four kids petted and hugged Cooper and giggled as he kissed them.

“Why do you have a dog?” she asked me.

I searched for the right words and was a little surprised by what came out. “We needed a dog, and Cooper needed some people. So we adopted him, and he adopted us.” The mom clutched her heart as she whispered to me, “Thank you so much for explaining it that way! We adopted all four of these children!” She is their mom, and they are her children.

In today’s Hebrew Bible reading, the prophet Jeremiah offers hope to the people of Israel who were suffering. Victims of exile whose cherished theologies and nationalism had failed them, the Israelites are promised a new covenant with God. They needed rescued from a neglect situation. “I will be their God, and they will be my people,” God promises (v.34). Under the new covenant promised by God through Jeremiah, each of us can live in hope because we are all God’s people.

I am not perfect, far from it. Against my list of transgressions, Cooper comes out looking pretty pious. But I am perfectly Jeff. God is my God, and I am God’s people.

Happy  Gotcha Day, Cooper!

We give thanks, O God, for your promise of presence with us, your people. Thank you for mothers and dogs to serve as tangible reminders of unconditional love. Amen.

Jeff Taylor