I was alone one morning, visiting my son and ceremoniously fixing my first cup of coffee. Keen to my actions, my son’s dog, Poppy, quietly stepped toward me with one of my son’s shoes gently nestled in her mouth. Her innocent, sweet eyes looked up to me, our eyes locked, and she waited. And waited. What was I experiencing? What was she saying?

Of late in the world, we talk about understanding someone's love language—the reason why, for example, gifts are lovingly given to us even though we don't need or want them. We simply don’t understand the intention and that is because we don't understand the meaning of the gift.  Recently I had one such experience, trying to understand the love language of my son's dog. I didn’t need a smelly shoe! But in the silence of sitting with a dog at my feet with one of my son's shoes in her mouth, the power and truth of God's Love language was revealed. Love gives what it treasures.

Love Gives What It Treasures

We are all familiar with John 3:16 to a point where we stop reflecting on it. Yet, the Spirit comes in unexpected ways to reawaken our minds, to make the familiar new again. This came home to me in one of those extraordinary moments of grace. It was in the simple act of my son's dog bringing to me the one thing that was most precious to her—one of my son’s shoes. It wasn't the shoe that mattered, it was her buddy—my son—that she was sharing with me in her canine love language.

“Love gives what it treasures” is key to understanding God's Love language. God’s most precious gift was His Son, whom he treasured. The gift of Christ was pure grace, given freely, available for the taking, and without cost. And unlike other gifts not wanted or needed, He is what we most need: intimacy, connection, relationship.

So, then, what was I experiencing? What was Poppy saying to me? Poppy was saying “I love you. Accept this, my most treasured possession.” It was a silent sermon delivered on four legs and lasting less than one minute.

If a message so simple can be shared in such an innocent way, how much greater is the message of God’s Love to be found in the love language of scripture, in a sunrise, in a still, small voice. How much more treasure is to be revealed?

With gratitude to Mother Joanne Izzo who helped me see the real treasure in what I was writing and the words to help express it.