If Only....

Asherel turns 15 years old today, and Lucky turned 10 yesterday. Asherel seems to be the picture of health. Poor old Lucky hasn't eaten in three days and is moping and lethargic. We take him to the vet this morning. I don't feel good about his behavior...I have never seen him like this, though he has had hunger strikes before. There is celebration all around us, cars filling driveways of highschool graduates and college graduates. Birthday gifts on the counter. Summer is just around the corner. Trees are green and lush. If only Lucky felt better....
There is always an "if only...", isn't there?
I tried to entice him to his food by putting steak in the middle of his bowl. He sniffed it, drank some water, and walked listlessly away. Honeybun hovered a few feet away. She looked pointedly at me and I know she was telling me, "DO NOT let that go to waste. If he doesn't want it, I know someone who does!"
So the day is a picture of what most of life is- a balance of celebration and despair, delight and worry, gain and loss, joy and sadness. Yesterday, I ran into a friend who opens her home to foster rescue dogs. She just had one of her rescue dogs die, and that very day got a call to take in a new rather demanding dog with "issues."
"It was just what I needed," she told me, "That is how I cope with sadness, move right into a new challenge."
I think that is a good attitude. There will always be an "if only" in life. It makes sense to look at all the promises and hopeful birthdays and new beginnings and dwell on them instead.
Acts 3: 19-21
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
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