Luna, the Cutest Dog in the World
I am not biased at all. I am not only saying this because I am Luna’s dad. But after having seen plenty of dogs on the internet and in real life, I can objectively conclude that Luna is the cutest dog in the world.
Suppose dogs are also on other planets like Arrakis, Krypton, or Tatooine. In that case, I’d dare say that Luna is cuter than all of them and is the cutest dog in the universe.
Cosmo the Spacedog from the space station Knowhere is cute. However, I would argue that Luna is more adorable, although she has neither telepathy nor telekinesis. I’ll give you that.
It has been a joy having Luna in our lives. But the thing is, we were not even planning on adopting another dog.
One time, my family spent our Christmas break in Houston. We got together with my cousins and their families and stayed at Selene’s house. It was a fun and relaxing vacation. We had our fill of savory breakfast tacos, beef jerky from Buc-ee’s, and the Double Meat Whataburger.
A couple of days before our trip back home, my wife suggested we look at puppies to kill time. She saw that an American Eskimo puppy was for sale a few miles from where we were staying. We visited the breeder, and it was love at first sight! We knew that the puppy needed to be part of our family.
We scrambled to get the puppy ready for our flight. We have never flown with a dog before. We got Luna a harness, a leash, and a Sherpa pet carrier. We then called United Airlines and asked what we needed to do to fly with a puppy. They told us that there was nothing to it. We just needed to pay a fee (of course) and make sure the puppy stayed in her carrier all the time.
Once we got home, we discovered that coming up with a name for the little dog was not easy. The top three choices were Luna, Sophie, and Sky. After almost a week of intense deliberations, we all agreed on “Luna.”
Potty training Luna during winter proved challenging. We discovered that we needed to stay outside with her for several minutes before she did what she needed to do — not an easy task when the temperature outside was near freezing. Thankfully, things got better as she grew older, although she still had “accidents.”
Luna never wants to be far from us. Even when she rests, she wants to be in the same room as us. She loves human food, playing fetch, and belly rubs.
Sometimes, giving Luna the attention she needs is challenging when we are busy. Her favorite fetch toys are the small tennis balls we got her from the pet store. When we are not paying attention, she approaches us with a ball in her mouth and barks until we throw the ball so she can fetch it.
Here, it will suffice to say that Luna loves getting attention. She does not like being ignored. Not at all.
Luna has learned quickly that our iPhones are her chief rival for attention. Don’t get me wrong. We love playing with Luna. I can pet her for minutes on end. But sometimes, scrolling through the Facebook Feed is just too enticing.
In a fantastic feat of adaptation, Luna has learned that she can do something to remedy this situation. She would jump on our laps and wedge her snout between our chest and the iPhone! She would then block our view of the screen with her body. We will have no choice but to pay attention to her.
I can’t help but wish that Jesus would do something similar.
I consider Jesus my friend. I enjoy spending time with Him. When I first open my eyes in the morning, I try to say a prayer, offering up the day to Him. After I prepare my coffee, I try to read the Gospel reading for the day and reflect on it. I say the grace prayer before each meal. Finally, I spend a few minutes at night thanking Jesus for all the blessings He has given me for the day.
However, I know in my heart that these encounters with God are not sufficient. After all, St. Paul encourages all Christians to pray not only a couple of times a day but to “pray without ceasing.”
There are many ways of interpreting Paul’s words from 1 Thessalonians 5. I interpret them as an encouragement to try to be aware of God’s presence in all circumstances and to have an ongoing conversation with Him throughout the day.
I liken this to how young people like to have an ongoing iMessage or WhatsApp chat with their friends. Every few minutes, they would send their friends a quick message to say “hi” or ask how things are going.
In the same way, Jesus would very much like to have an ongoing conversation with us. It doesn’t have to be an hour-long chat. He welcomes a quick “hello” or “thank you”. Sometimes, when we have more time, He appreciates a more extended conversation.
Jesus has also sent the Holy Spirit to guide us in our lives. If we pay enough attention, we will notice the Spirit’s gentle nudges to make good decisions.
During moments in my life when I get the courage to put my phone down and not fill every available lull in my day with YouTube videos, I notice how frequent these nudges can be. When I follow these nudges, I am typically spared from some pain or used by the Spirit as an instrument to bring God’s grace to someone else.
However, the allure of the smartphone is just too great all too often. When I am not actively doing anything, I grab my phone and try to fill the empty space with a YouTube video or a news article.
I do feel that the Spirit is leading me to a different path. He wants me to spend more time with Him in solitude, be more aware of His gentle promptings, and have more frequent chats with Him.
One thing the Holy Spirit will not do is act like Luna and wedge Himself between my iPhone and my chest. Even if He wants to get my attention and chat with me, He will not block my phone’s screen. It is not in the Holy Spirit’s nature to do these things.
As such, I will have to decide that I love spending time with God more than I love the dopamine hits that social media gives me.
