Dog Theology, part 3: Delight

A former room mate of mine and I once ruminated on the likeness between the dog/man relatinoship and the man/God relationship. This branch of thinking was quickly named "Dog Theology" in honor of those bumber stickers which read Dog is Love. From time to time I like to comment on another point of contact or similarity between the two relationships.


My dogs are the greatest! I love them both very much, and while my wife and I are childless the dogs will serve as our little ones to care for. One of the things that I love most about my dogs is that I simply delight in them.


Dakota is wily. She's sneaky, kniving and loving. And I must admit, though she often uses her brains to get herself in trouble, I really love that part of her.


Lola is not burdened with an over abundance of brains. She loves to show off and carry around her favorite toys while snorting at you. She has high energy and is not graceful.


It's not uncommon for my dogs to do something which agrivates me or that I don't like. However, I always seem to love them. I delight in them. They don't have to do anything in order for me to simply delight in them.


When I look at Lola just laying in the floor on her back I take delight. When I watch Dakota sniffing the ground looking for a good location on which to make a deposit I am delighted just because she is.


When I think about this relationship dynamic and translate it to the man/God relationship I see similarities. Part of my theology includes the claims in Genesis that God created man and saw that man was "good." When I read this I hear that God delights in man. This means, just like my dogs, it's not my job to make God like me, God simply enjoys my being.

I can only take joy in the thought that I am loved as recklessly and even more intensely than I love those two cute little four-legged-tale-waggers.