That’s you. There’s Kaylee. A weathered, but happy dog hangs from your hand like an extension that’s so natural it no longer requires thought. The dog is now Luke. Luke is the dog. You’ve become one in a way too natural to be profound for a two year old. Pacifier and fur together.
Your sister is in the foreground, fingers thoughtlessly poised around a dog of her own. She fell in love with Scotch the moment she saw how delicately and intimately you carried Lucky. He is as personal to her as Lucky is to you. This is how love works.
The Bible says, “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4.19
Upon further study, there is more here than a boy and his dog and a girl who follows them. There is someone holding you. And though multiple stuffed animals litter your room, this is the only dog you cry for at night and call, “Hmm, Hmm,” your guttural, two-year-old barking sound.
Daddy gave you Lucky as your first stuffed animal on your first Christmas. And you understand that very well.
We love because he first loved us.
See, Daddy held you long before you held Lucky before Kaylee held Scotch. It’s the way loves works.
But what you can’t see in this picture is there’s more here than Daddy holding a boy holding a dog holding a little girl’s heart who follows them.
Daddy is in the arms of a God who holds me first.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God. Psalm 84.1-2
Worshiping God is like sitting in Daddy’s arms. It’s holding a doggie who’s so connected you sometimes don’t even notice he’s there, who your heart faints with longing to be with, and with whom your whole being shouts joyfully when you enter his arms. Or a son.
This is how lovely places work.
It’s how love works.
About John-Peter Demsick
