A Patient Pooch
By J. PAWS

Recently, I pondered the confronting truth that the Reverend Dr. Watson has more patience than I do. Patience is defined as the power of suffering or persevering with courage and fortitude. If patience is desired in pastoral care, and I think it is, dogs and cats would be the lead pastors and their people would do will to be their shadows.
 I have watched the Reverend Doctor with our three cats and countless people and I am quite sure that his love of God and creation is unconditional.

His style and approach to ministry rivals what I learned at seminary in Evanston, Illinois, in the 1970s. The lesson came from those you might expect: professors, students, staff and those some might think the least likely folks on the staff: janitors and housekeepers. Love unconditional and universal to all creatures great and to all creatures small  is what I learned from kith and kin, at mother’s side and on father’s knee. However, what they said and what they did was not always one and the same. There’s the rub. Where people are more inconsistent and particular, animals and young children are more consistent in practicing love and acceptance, openness and kindness.  

Love is what makes the world go round and what Jesus taught in life and at death. Christ at the Last Supper and  Christ on the Cross. Christ’s Resurrection centers on the love, faith, and hope available to all who will love God and Creation with all their being. Easier said than done, this love-walk from birth to death, but not impossible if we but give it a try, this love that is the greatest truth of Easter and professed by holy persons of all persuasions.       

Yet, I must confess Christ’s practice of hospitality and forgiveness, compassion and emotional congruence is better practiced by my colleague and friend, Watson, a fox terrier. He has made the theology of Tillich, Bonhoeffer, and Reuther and the words of Paul and Jesus come to have deeper meaning and real-life applications.

He’s a natural at this love stuff and acceptance stuff and the importance of being real.Recently, Watson and I   visited six people and to each person, the Reverend Doctor Watson was always interested and sincere. A pro at listening and consoling, he made our visits unforgettable. Memorable! Magical!

His eyes always kind, he knew instinctively what posture to take and when to wag his tail and when to shake his head in utter empathy, sympathy, amazement or chagrin when his pastoral call required it. Pastoral calls are crucial and Watson knows how to do this with consummate skill and the utmost integrity, and confidentiality.

Doggone! Dr. Watson, and other dogs and cats in his league, made God’s unsurpassing gift of love look easy  Love like that by those canine and feline pastors make love elementary like air and water; elementary, my dear Watson.

Reverend J. Paws (Judy Stanley) is an interfaith minister from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. You can contact her at Paws@mountainhomemag.com.