My friend Peggy Rice (Gray Clouds, Clear Skies) shared that her parents’ cat died last night.  She wrote, “Those pets are such an important part of our lives…I understand the grief.”

As I was praying for her parents it occurred to me why pets are such an important part of our lives, and why losing them is so painful.  Why losing them is sometimes even harder than losing a human.

It’s because of love.

Pets are the repositories of our best love.  We pour it into them, unhindered and unguarded and when they are gone, the receptacle for all that pristine love is gone.

They love us back, for sure, and we certainly miss their delightful personalities, but I think it’s their willingness to be loved that we miss the most.

They are love sponges.

They are 100% willing to be loved. They don’t evaluate the quality of our love, they just soak in every bit of it they can get.

People, with their insecurities and baggage, often reject large and small portions of our love.

But not pets, pets willingly and unabashedly accept it all.

And we love them for it.

Praying for everyone out there who is grieving the loss of their precious love sponge.

#notcapableofrejection