We read in the book of Proverbs, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” If God’s Word can advise us to learn something about work from the hard-working ants, we should also be able to learn something about faith from that most faithful of all God’s creatures, the dog.
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CLUNY by William Croswell Doane in The Boston Evening Transcript
I am quite sure he thinks that I am God–
Since He is God on whom each one depends
For life, and all things that His bounty sends–
My dear old dog, most constant of all friends;
Not quick to mind, but quicker far than I
To Him whom God I know and own; his eye
Deep brown and liquid, watches for my nod;
He is more patient underneath the rod
Than I, when God His wise corrections sends.
He looks love at me, deep as words e’er spake;
And from me never crumb or sup will take
But he wags thanks with his most vocal tail;
And when some crashing noise wakes all his fear
He is content and quiet if I’m near,
Secure that my protection will prevail;
So, faithful, mindful, thankful, trustful, he
Tells me what I unto my God should be.
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My goal is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. –unknown
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Proverbs 6:6-8 — Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
Zechariah 8:8 — “I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
I Corinthians 4:2 — Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
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Lord, since Thou hast taken from me all that I had of Thee, yet of Thy grace leave me, I pray, the gift which every dog has by nature; that of being true to Thee in my distress, when I am deprived of all consolation. Amen.
–Mechthild of Magdeburg, Cistercian nun and mystic (1210?-1285?)