Abba Xanthios said, "A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge."
The first time I heard this quote it cut me to the bone. I was newly Orthodox and had begun to familiarize myself with some of the writings of the Desert Fathers. Reading their words was like taking a spotlight down into the dank dark basement of my soul and finding all kinds of terrible rotting stuff there.
A self-righteous attitude covered the walls like mold. The stink of judging and condemning others hung heavy in the air. St. Seraphim of Sarov said, "We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves." And Mother Teresa, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
The picture is of my dog, Greta. In the persistent immediacy of her canine experience she loves without restraint. When I lose my temper with her she does not look to reciprocate, but only to try and make amends. Trying to change others is hard misguided work which oftentimes simply ends up embittering us. The freedom of love is the freedom to accept others fully while working to clean out one's own basement.
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5 comments:
Ah, nice picture and great story. Your making me miss my Mickey (Eternal Dog Memory) who died about one year ago....2 days before my birthday! He was a good dog, a loyal freind. When I was dating my current (j/k!) wife, Mickey tore up a wreath some one had made her. I was given the ultimatum...."Him or me!" Well...
Actually by the end of his life, I am sure if some one told Shamassey to pick between the two....I'd be sleeping in the dog house!
Greta's cute, enjoy her while you can ...dog's lives are way too short.
Ok, I have to correct you here. I said we may have to get rid of Greta when she snapped at you and me when baby was first here (thinking what if she snapped at him someday if he took a toy of hers). I never mentioned a new home for just waking him up. I think you are confusing that with me throwing away her huge, loud bones that she drops on the hardwood floor. I was very good with her bc I knew she didn't know any better, so we just secretly got rid of the bones.
Mrs. Aaroneous
Ach! It's a spousal raid on my blog...
OK, what you said makes more sense (though less dramatic than my re-telling). :^)
Correction noted.
Well, as you know, there is a new dynamic in the family and his name is EK. A few weeks ago Greta dropped a bone on the hard wood floor (or went nuts with some noise outside, can't remember which)and woke the baby. Jennifer was angry and made a comment about the possibility of needing to find Greta another home.
Of course she was just venting, but it was shocking none the less b/c she had always made comments in the past to the effect that no matter what (with renting/moving) we'd find a way to keep Greta even if it meant spending more money. This from the Budget Nazi! :^)
Anyway, you see who ranks highest now. She'll move the world for that little guy.
Edit: this comment should be just prior to comments by "Mrs. Aaroneous." Blogspot does not allow editing of comments, so I had to delete it and re-.post
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