Nothing Good is Lost

Oh, the thoughts that come to me standing in the shower...Suddenly I was with Anne in an exam room at the Williamsburg Veterinary Clinic.  Our beloved Rotweiler, Ginger, eleven years old and a wonderful friend--her kidneys were failing her because of her diabetes.  For two years Anne had given Ginger the shots to maintain her blood sugar, managed her diet, exercised her without fail.  How they loved one another.  But now, we had to do something to help Ginger leave this misery behind.

Anne insisted that we would be with Ginger as she died.  The drugs were administered, and Anne held Ginger's head in her lap.  She stroked her ears and told her everything would be all right.  When Ginger breathed her last, Anne hugged her close and cried like I had seen few times in our life together.  Then she got up, wiped her eyes, and we let our puppy go.

Somehow for a moment that all ran together with our last hours at home.  We administered the drugs needed to help Annie be comfortable.  We held her close and told her we loved her.  We stroked her hair and sang to her and rubbed her feet.  But we knew we couldn't keep her here in that pain and struggle.  So we helped her to go and rest in Jesus' arms.

The old question is, "Do dogs go to heaven?"  Of course at our house the question was also applied to rats, lizards, fish and guinea pigs.  The question is deeper than that.  Will those wonderful creatures join us in the New Life?  I think the answer is an unequivocal "Yes!"  If the meaning of the New Creation is that God will lose nothing that is good (a la N. T. Wright) then our beloved Ginger will be part of that New Creation as will be so much of Anne that I can hardly wait to see her.  More than that, Paul assures us that all of creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.  All of Creation.

So I see my Annie, holding Ginger close once again, stroking her ears and smiling.  It will be all joy on that day when we are reunited as children of God in that New Creation where the smiling never ends.