“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13 NIV)

I was walking our new rescue puppy, Sweetie this morning.  After we finished we came
back inside.  As soon as we walked through the door Sweetie grabbed my daughter’s new
tennis shoe in her mouth and started prancing proudly down the hall with her new chew toy.  I
took a moment to laugh before snatching the shoe back and putting Sweetie in her crate with
the four chew toys we had already bought her.

It is really amazing the change that has taken place in my puppy in the two and a half weeks
since we adopted her.  She has gone from a shaking, shivering little pile of bones to a chunky,
confident dog.  She has gone from whimpering and whining when she couldn’t get up on my
bed to leaping up on it with one bound, showering my face with kisses, then bouncing back off
to play again.  She has gone from a scared, little girl who threw up on the car ride home to a dog
who eats like a horse and grows like a weed.  She has gone from a puppy who cowered under
her bed when the other dogs barked in the shelter to a girl who chases our sixty pound dog,
Fluffy around the house, chews on him, sleeps on him, and steals his chew bone after she wears
him out.  All in all Sweetie has changed from a tiny, terrified thing to a lovable, self-assured, and
somewhat ornery puppy who has captured the hearts of everyone in the house.  And amazingly 
she did it all on just a little puppy food and a lot of love.

It doesn’t matter if you are a dog or a human being, nothing changes you like love does.
Love gives you confidence.  Love drives away fear.  Love allows you to grow.  Love brings you
back to life.  Love helps you be who you were meant to be.  Love makes you one with God.
Never fear change then, if the change is love.  Know that God loves you.  Know that “God is
Love!”  And know that you can choose love each moment of your life.

Joseph J. Mazzella