Jake, my collie, in a buttercup meadow. |
I would have immensely enjoyed hearing the feisty C.S. Lewis preach or lecture.
He was a slave to the dog of Mrs. Moore (the mother of the soldier-friend who died in the First World War, whom he moved in with to “look after” as per his pact with her son.) His brother, Warnie, sardonically comments on the great things Jack might have achieved if he were not always trotting off to get meat from the butchers for the dog, or to walk him.
When a grieving dog-owner asked him if we would be re-united with our pets in heaven, Lewis did not let his lack of acquaintance with that undiscovered country prevent his having opinions about it. “No,” he said, “not our dogs.” However, he said, there would be “the essence of dogness” in heaven.
I hope he’s right about the Platonic essence of dogness in heaven. Surely he is.
But though there is nothing in Scripture about the resurrection of the dogs, I would love to believe that my dogs past and present will be there in heaven—Rover, Brutus, Juno, Trooper and Jake. They would make my joy complete.
I love my wonderful dog, Jake, whom I got from a rescue, as I have got every dog I have ever owned as an adult. He fell fast in love with me on the day we brought him home 7 years ago, and has been my constant shadow, sleeping at the foot of our bed, following me everywhere, even to the bathroom, constantly repositioning himself to keep a vigilant eye on me. Though what an active collie and a sedentary writer could have in common is one of the mysteries of the universe!!
Read my new memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India (US) or UK.
Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anitamathiaswriter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anita.mathias/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnitaMathias1
My book of essays: Wandering Between Two Worlds (US) or UK