Who is your best friend?

Who has never heard the old saying.... "Dog is man's best friend" I am sure there aren't many hands up!!

I'm afraid that I have to admit that I am not much of a dog person and much prefer cats,  but I have a true story about my early childhood about a very loyal dog my parents owned.


At age 3-6 we lived on a smallholding just outside of a small town called Elliot, in South Africa. First few years we lived on our own, but after my grandmother passed on when I was 5 years old, we moved in with my grandfather who lived about half a mile away from our first house.

My parents both worked in town and until my grannie's passing, I used to stay with her during the day while my mother was at work.

As I mentioned before, they owned a dog. To save my mother time in the mornings she made good use of the dog's loyalty. She would place my arm in the dog's mouth and tell him "grannie" and he would walk me to my grandparents house. He would not release my arm until either my grandma or grandpa gave him a piece of chopped wood to take home. They actually tested him by ignoring us and carrying on with some chores outside. No matter how I pulled on my arm and spoke to him, he held on until the piece of wood was given in exchange. He refused to accept the wood from anyone else so it was quite safe to assume that he handed me to one of them.

If that isn't proof of loyalty and intelligence nothing is!

I am sure that many people have experienced such loyalty in their pets. Animals are strange creatures and often surprise us with their intelligence.

Here are a few "animal friends" quotes....

 There is in all animals a sense of duty that man condescends to call instinct.  ~Robert Brault

The kind man feeds his beast before sitting down to dinner.  ~Hebrew Proverb

Man is rated the highest animal, at least among all animals who returned the questionnaire.  ~Robert Brault


Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.  ~ Colette

The difference between friends and pets is that friends we allow into our company, pets we allow into our solitude.  ~Robert Brault,

If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.  ~Will Rogers

I hope all my friends enjoyed this true story.

ASK AND YOU WILL RECIEVE.....

Is nature sometimes stranger than fiction?
I have often learned lessons from nature - from plants and "dumb" animals.


Many things in nature work together to make for a more successful planet.  Some plants use other plants to keep them going - like some orchids that attach themselves to the bark of trees using that as their "home". They are not parasites that take anything from the tree, other than just having a place to live and survive. Some plants need insects and birds to help pollinate them and distribute their seeds, thus ensuring that they live on.

Then we find the unusual - Those animals who would normally not be friends but become bosom buddies. We had a few of these in the past.

We had a real "pet's paradise" for a few years. There were cats, bunnies, ducks and "silky" chickens. We obtained these as babies all at the same time, so they grew up together and all became friends.

We did not keep any of them in cages. Our back yard was well fenced in and they were left to roam as they liked.










Naturally they eventually had babies of their own - all except the cats - and once again these babies grew up together.

 Our cats used to play with the bunnies while one of the baby bunnies befriended a duckling. These two were inseparable, even when they were full grown.





We used to spend hours sitting on the garden bench, in the shade of a loqaut tree, watching our unusual friends playing with each other.

                                                                                                                        
I believe that this is living out what is proclaimed in the Holy Bible.....

    "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them."  Isaiah 11:6

I also believe that "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" Matt. 19:26

Once again I have to express my thanks and gratitude that I can ask our Heavenly Father for anything and as long as I believe, AND AS LONG AS IT IS IN MY OWN BEST INTEREST, my prayers will be answered. If I ask for something that is not going to be of REAL benefit to me, I will not receive. Sometimes when we pray for something, our prayers are answered in a different way to what we expected, because that is the way it must be for us.

We must learn to accepet whatever we receive even when it seems to be wrong. Nothing we receive in the name of God is wrong - God makes no mistakes!! We are often like small children who don't understand that we cannot always get what we desire - it is just the way it is. If your child asks you for a hot coal because it is pretty, will you give it to him? I'm sure you wouldn't.

As a parent I have often said no to my children when they ask for something - not because I want to be spiteful, but because I know what is best for them. In the same way, our Heavenly Father also knows what is best for us and will not always grant our wishes.

Whatever happens,

I know that I am safe in His love, even though I often don't understand - knowing that he loves me is good enough for me.