Blessing of the Animals

waiting for the service to begin

Every October, our church has a Blessing of the Animals service. Up until this year, I would notice the announcement and chuckle to myself, wondering why someone would take their pet to church to be blessed. Then came Levi.


I marked October 6 on my calendar as soon as the date was announced this year. Levi is no stranger to our church. In fact, he even participated in the children's sermon one Sunday last summer. Although he behaved very well then, some of his recent antics convinced me that a blessing was a good idea for him.

such well behaved dogs

The event was to be held outdoors (for some obvious reasons), but it rained. This moved most of the pets inside the back door of the church. I say most, because there was one pet that preferred to just stand looking in the door. 






Molly, the soprano

Having never attended one of these services before, I really didn't know what to expect. I was surprised that there was a special bulletin printed for the service. Our pastor led us in prayer and responsive reading. We were reminded that our pets are a blessing to us and that we should also be a blessing to them. Our worship and music director led us in singing. Molly, a soprano dog,  and our bass dog, Levi, added their voices to the mix. For the record, Levi has the best singing voice of anyone in our family!



Levi receiving his blessing

Levi trying to steal extra dog treats

Each animal received a special blessing from Pastor Tim, as well as a bag with tasty treats. Levi patiently waited for his blessing, and then naturally assumed he'd earned all the treats, not just his baggie full. This reminded me of how Evan equates sitting through a church service to earning a plate full of goodies in the fellowship hall on Sunday mornings.


Levi meeting Cocoa the horse



Levi met some new canine friends. He also met the pet I mentioned who preferred standing outside the church looking in through the door. Cocoa the horse was very sweet, never flinching when Levi tried to muster up a manly growl.





After such a meaningful blessing service, I anticipated Levi being a perfect angel. Apparently his halo fell off some time shortly after we left the church. When we got home, he was more wound up than I've ever seen him. He ran through the whole house, upstairs and downstairs. He jumped on and off furniture and growled and even tried chewing on the sofa for the first time ever. I wondered if he was just burning off excess energy after being around so many other pets.

But as I looked through the pictures I took at Blessing of the Animals, I noticed one where Pastor Tim appeared to be whispering something to Levi. After witnessing Levi's behavior upon returning home, I am now questioning what he was being told in this picture.

Was Levi told to run wild and act crazy when he got back home?

 

I've been wondering if there is a lesson to be learned from this entry. Maybe it's that we should gracefully accept every blessing God has to offer us. Or perhaps it is just the simple reminder that we all tend to behave better in church than at home.

While Levi received a special blessing yesterday, our whole family received a special blessing the day he joined our family.