ENJOY LIFE AS IT COMES

I remember, when I was in high school, I had a pet friend named Sugar. He was a small, hairy dog with a curly tail that wagged at the sound of my voice (Suuggaarr, Suuggaarr, tsk, tsk, tsk). His color was brown and white. He was cute, playful, very brave and sweet. I loved him very much and I knew he felt the same for me (it was not a hunch).

Whenever my sisters would pretend to slap me or punch me or hit me, I would call on him (Sugar! Aray! Aray! Aray! Sugar!). Within a glimpse, he would zoom in between them and me and bark as loud as he could (Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf!). He would show his sharp fangs and scare them away, then he would jump towards me and lick my face (slurp, slurp, slurp) (oooohh, yyaakkkk) and then look at us wondering why in the world were we laughing (he, he, he).

Well, he got sick and on the day of my high school graduation (sigh), he died. I never shed even a single tear. But from then on, I never got close to any dog we had. After eight years, I found myself writing a poem about him and I burst into gallons and gallons of tears (wwwaaaa, wwwaaa, wwwaaa, zzznnnngggaaaa). After all those years, I still cried like that. He was not just my pet, not even just a friend, but he was my playmate, my best friend, and I loved him.

Since that hearty cry, I found myself playing and hugging pet dogs again, especially cute, little puppies (Yap! Yap! Yap!) . . . . and even cats, too (meooow). Time healed my pain. But if I only allowed myself to nurse it for a shorter time, I could have enjoyed the other playful and cute doggies after him. If I faced the hurt of his lost sooner and didn’t keep it in the deepest part of my heart, I could have cuddled and loved more dogs and have treasures of happy memories spent with them (hhhaaayyy!).

Oftentimes, many of us do this. We get hurt. We brood. We curse. We get angry at times (BRAG!). But the worst, we nurse these feelings for a long time. Why? For the simple reason that we don’t want to feel pain again. We are afraid to be hurt. We want to protect our hearts from being crushed again. The result, (tsk, tsk, tsk) we miss the opportunity to enjoy life and be happy. We miss the opportunity of how the Lord is trying to heal that pain. We turn our backs, close our eyes and cover our ears, but we are lucky enough that Jesus is so persistent. As many dogs have been brought in our house through the years after Sugar’s death, Jesus has been doing everything just to cheer you up . . . . maybe through your family and friends, maybe through the situations that are happening in your life, or maybe..…just maybe…through a dog like Sugar.

When you get hurt, cry until your eyes swell, until there are no more tears to shed, then let it end there. Offer your wounded heart to Jesus and let Him heal it. You may be surprised how fast your recovery will be (wow!), for He knows the best medicine for each kind of hurt you experience, a medicine that is much, much better than the ones you usually take. So do not be afraid, collect your treasure of memories . . . . Enjoy life as it comes!

-luisadelacruz