This is likely going to be one of my more random posts, but I was thinking about God’s relationship with us and then realized in some ways how it relates to our relationship between us and our pets. Of course, God loves all creatures, and this posts involves stereotypical characteristics of pets that I apologize for in advance. I hate stereotypes, so I know this makes me a hypocrite – I’m no saint after all – but I digress.

Actually what started this train of thought was this growing trend of “co-existing.” Which stems from respecting other cultures and their backgrounds, which almost always includes a belief structure. I do think that this respect is essential in our country. We are mostly all immigrants, after all. I’ve always thought this respect was important. But because of this respect of outside cultures, I used to think about God as a higher power, but didn’t engage beyond that. What if I was wrong? Being raised Catholic, I grew up in a home where God was real and I didn’t question that. However, as I was introduced to more cultures, I wasn’t so sure. I was like a cat. I was a child of God, but didn’t really acknowledge God as my God. There were so many influences of who God was that I could not define my own faith, I had an ambiguous idea that a creator existed, but had no need to interact with it (I’m speaking in general here, because yes, there are many cats that are super affectionate with their owners). So what changed? People started challenging me in my belief, and I’m so glad they did. I questioned who my creator really was, and I researched. I read the Bible, I read about other religions, how they started, how they grew. I read about secondary non-christian accounts of the life of Jesus, and my faith grew and God was no longer just an idea. God was a part of my life. Out of that faith came trust and loyalty. Our relationship became more like a dog and it’s owner in some ways. I knew my master’s voice. I heard when I was called, and I rested in the peace of being in God’s presence.

It’s important to know that God loves all of us, cats and dogs, whether we acknowledge God’s identity or not. But God wants a relationship with us. If you’re struggling with that relationship, I would encourage you to study about God. Church and bible studies are great places to start, and if you want third party information, let me know, and I’ll provide a list of resources in a future post.

Thank you for reading and God bless!