What I love about dogs.

The thing I love about dogs is that they are not swayed by anyone else's opinion of me.

Just the other night, G told our dog to attack me (in that playful, "we-haven't-trained-her-to-do-anything-much-less-attack-someone" kindof way). At his command, she promptly licked his pointing finger. Then, he proceeded to explain to her all the reasons that she should attack me, and she responded by wagging her tail and licking his knee. Twice. After a demonstration of how he would like her to attack, she finally came over to me and put her head on my lap.

At that moment, I realized that nothing anyone else could say to her would change her opinion of me. Someone might say to her, "Rachel doesn't pick up her socks and then acts like it's somebody else's fault that her house has socks all over the place," but she'd still run up to the gate each time I pull into the driveway. Or "Rachel volunteers to do all these things and then complains that she doesn't ever have enough time to herself," but she'd still wag her tail helicopter style whenever I come into a room. Those words mean nothing to her; she is devoted to me because of who I am.

I wonder if God's like that.