Through the Stillness

I’ve been a bit shaken up the last few days.  Our dog, who is very much a part of our family, almost died. There’s still a chance he will not recover. So far, though, he’s doing well and tolerating everything as well as could be expected.

Long story short, Ranger had a lot of different things going on. He was prescribed some anti inflammatory medicine and had severe adverse reactions to it. He ended up becoming septic and needed abdominal surgery. There are many more details I have left out, but that is the gist of it.

This morning, Oliver and I went up to see him.  Oliver wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up and so I had to explain what all the tubes and etc. were for. He was very careful with our dog and gently pet his head. Then he checked out the other dogs and asked different questions about them. He was simply fascinated with the entire Animal Hospital.

Once we got home, we talked more about Ranger and reminisced over some Ranger stories.  We looked at pictures. We smiled and laughed, but then my laughter turned to tears. I suddenly got overwhelmed and couldn’t help it.

My sweet Oliver looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said, “Mommy, please don’t cry. Crying comes from fears you haven’t faced. Face your fear and pray. You need to pray, Mommy. That’s what you do.”

I shook my head. “How are you so wise at the age of four?”

Oliver just smiled. He amazes me. He is wise and kind and creative. At such a young age, he always points to God in the little and big things of life. My goodness, I love my little old soul.