The number one wish of children without a pet has to be a dog or a cat. Or a bird or guinea pig, hamster, and snake or something. Kids catch bugs and make little habitats for them. Kids love the zoo, nature shows, cartoons with talking animals, and stuffed animals.

So when Jesus tells us to be like children, the logic follows that we too should be obsessed with our pets, love animals, and adore nature. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” Seems to me, children receive the kingdom of God, God’s good creation with wonder, delight, and love. And therefore, so should we. And therefore, we are right to be in love with our pets. That’s my logic train justifying my deep love of our excessive number of dogs and you cannot talk me out of it!

But, seriously, so many of us deeply love the animals in our lives. Is it because they are cute? Snuggly? Some of them, at least? Or their quirky little personalities?

I wonder if a big part of why we love animals is because they love us. Doesn’t it make you feel like a good human being when an animal loves you and wants to be with you? Even if you feel like you’ve failed all day in your life, when you walk in the door, your dog is overjoyed to see you. Struggling in the world doesn’t matter to your dog. Their wagging tails just scream out in joy, “You’re home! You’re you! And I’m SO happy about that!”

And that’s all that’s important in that moment. You’re home and you’re YOU! Then they want to be fed, play, have the ball thrown, and go for walks and all that stuff. But when you walk through the door, they just love you.

It’s also reassuring when we see our pets love the people in our lives, right? Our dog Clay is really skittish around new people for quite a while. It’s an accomplishment when Clay lets you pet him, for the most part. But I have on rare occasions been with people who Clay allows to touch him immediately upon meeting them. My internal response, sensible or not, is that if Clay trusts them, then so should I.

Don’t we think that dogs know something about people that we may not necessarily know right away? They have a wisdom that we recognize and trust.

Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote the beautiful book, Braiding Sweetgrass. She describes herself as a “mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.” In her book, she integrates her Native perspective of plants and nature with her scientific understanding of plants and nature as a botanist and professor.

In her book she writes:

“In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.” We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out.”

In our Genesis 1 creation story, we are indeed created last. We have not been here as long as other species. We are, in fact, a very new creation with biologically modern humans only being on the planet for 200k-ish years while the “first true dog” evolved 30 to 40 million years ago, according to Brittanica (online). In the scheme of life of the planet, we are babies. And babies need a lot of looking after so it’s a good thing our animal friends are here for us, guiding us along the way.

Humans have this funny habit of always wanting to talk about what makes us unique from all the other animals. It’s a little like the disciples who were talking about who is going to be the greatest, right? We’re always looking to puff ourselves up, saying things like: We’re the only hominids who walk upright. We’re the only ones with these amazing hands. We’re the only ones who blush. And our brains are the most complicated structure in the universe. (Bold statement, but some folks profess this.)

There’s lots of things that make us special, of course. But what about looking for how we are the same. Personally, this is a much more satisfying activity. I love to consider and explore how we share kinship with a common creator with animals, plants, bacteria, and the rest, because this is all evidence of our belonging and how we are also woven into the fabric of all that is. For a species that may be unique in our existential fear of not belonging in the world, this is good medicine.

My Dad and Barbara had two cats, Sam and Squiggy. If you know my dad, you know he’s obsessed with his cats. This last week, Sam had to be put down due to cancer. Squiggy and Sam had a very special relationship because Squiggy helped foster Sam. Dad and Squiggy were a kitten fostering dream team for our local shelter. Squiggy would do all the things that momma cats do for small kittens; clean them, play with them, and even let them try to suckle off of him. One of these foster kittens was Sam. Sam and Squiggy had this amazing connection, so instead of giving Sam back to the shelter to be adopted out into the community, they kept Sam for Squiggy.

So, it’s a big deal that Sam passed, not just for Dad and Barb, but for Squiggy. Dad sent me the saddest picture of Squiggy nuzzling and laying with Sam’s body after he passed. I do not know exactly how cats grieve, but I surely know that they do. We are not so different from the rest of Creation, from the animals who share our lives and this world, even if we think we are so very special, different, and separate.

In our gospel, Jesus tells us to be like children. I take this to mean that Jesus wants us to be open, willing to learn, to live in wonder, to love expansively (including the bugs and snakes), and to be honest. Honest with God and honest with each other, like our animals are. He wants us to be expansively loving, honest, and full of wonder and joy about the smallest things, like going to the park again and again. Or playing with the light of a laser pointer, again and again.

Jesus said in another teaching that we should ‘consider the lilies of the field’ as also being a teacher for us. So, I imagine him also saying ‘consider your beloved pets’ as good mentors for life, just as he is telling us to consider the children.

What is it in our pets, the animals in our lives we most love and most appreciate? Can we learn from their wisdom about how to love and live? How to live with less worry and more joy? Can we look to them and see connection and belonging, not just with them, but with God’s whole and good Creation? With all animals and all their habitats?

What if we, as a species, took our relative youth seriously, become like children in our willingness to learn, and look to the wise ones around us for guidance? I am sure we would all benefit from this humility and grace. And so for our pets, animals, and all of Creation, let us give thanks.

AMEN