Lessons from Cooper

Last summer we were at PetSmart, just looking, I promise, no plans whatsoever to adopt. (If it were up to Alex we would bring home a stray dog or cat every time we went.) But guess who fell in love-at-first-sight? I saw this little puppy with big ol’ ears and long legs, and he was just the cutest thing ever. We got him out and carried him around with us, we put him back in his crate….and we went back and got him out again. I really don’t know what it was about him that made me want to take him home with me, but I just couldn’t resist. Of course, Alex and Phil were all for it. So, we adopted Cooper.

Cooper is a handful. My explanation for this is because he is a boy. After all, our cats are girls and they aren’t any trouble, Sadie, our first dog, is a girl and she isn’t any trouble….but then there’s Cooper - thirty-two pounds of mischief wrapped up in fur. But he is, to me anyway, adorable.

Cooper chases our Sassy-cat, he eats cat food, he barks, a lot and ear-piercingly. He wants outside, he immediately barks to come back in, but when we open the door he runs off to the woods. He doesn’t know his place is on the floor and not the furniture. He chases our car. He eats box turtles out of their shells. (I’ve never seen that many turtles in the yard, but he sniffs them out somehow.)

Last fall every few days he proudly brought us different parts of a deer. On Thanksgiving morning he brought us a deer head; not just the skull, but the entire head. It made Phil almost sick to see it on our front porch. Maybe I have a sick sense of humor because it cracked me up. In the next few days he brought home an antler, the lower part of a leg and a big hunk of fur. A couple weeks later I saw him running into the yard and it looked like he had a broom in his mouth. When he got close enough for me to see I realized it was the spine and ribcage of a deer. If Phil hadn’t been putting all those “spare parts” in the trash, we could have almost made us a facimile of a deer to showcase in our living room.

This little, hyper bundle of bark with ears has taught me some things. Cooper is always so happy to see us he can hardly stand it. As soon as we come in the door after work or school he is jumping up to say hello. He wants us to know that we were missed and now he’s practically beside himself to see us again. He wants to be loved, he wants attention, and he wants to be in our laps, or snuggled up as close as he can.

Sometimes, Cooper leaves such a mess he just has to be punished. Like the time he chewed a half-full bottle of Pepto Bismol, which left a hot pink stain on the carpet, and on Sadie's rear - I guess she sat in it. Or when he found a roll of toilet tissue and completely unwound it; toilet papering our living room. But after he’s gotten a spank on the hind end he wants to know he’s forgiven.

Cooper is scared of thunder. If there is a storm he jumps onto the bed with us and shakes and whines. He tries to burrow himself underneath one of us for safety. And he cannot go to sleep until all is quiet again.

Yep, Cooper is a handful, but just so darn cute and affectionate we can’t help but to love him. Sometimes I think I should be more like Cooper towards God. I ought to bring Him gifts that are meaningful to me and lay them at His porch; ummm, I mean His feet.

Instead of taking God’s companionship for granted, I ought to be like Cooper, so happy to be with God that I can’t contain myself. I need to snuggle up with Him and give Him all my attention. I should desire to be in God’s presence at all times.

Like Cooper, I sometimes make a mess of things. And, sometimes it feels like God is giving me a little spank on my hind end. At these times I need to seek forgiveness and then be re-assured of His mercy.

When I face the storms of life I need to remind myself that God is my refuge. There is no need for me to shake and whine. God is there for me to find safety and comfort in time of trouble.

I picture God in His Heaven watching me saying “Yep, that Joan, she’s a handful, but look, isn’t she so darn cute when she runs to me? Isn’t she adorable when she spreads my love? Isn’t she precious because she’s my beloved daughter?”

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.