A Loving Sacrifice

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"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Philippians 2:3-4, ESV

I tries to be a good boy, really. I like to make my human happy. I only chew on my toys. I don't wake her up early in the morning. I don't steal food from the counter. I don't fart in front of company (I wait until we're chilling watch a movie and then let one rip that could kill the house plants).

But my human doesn't always make it easy to serve her. For instance, I know she loves when I sleep on my bed in her home office while she is working. She says she finds it soothing, especially on hard work days. Whatever that is.

The thing is, she keeps this scary space heater in there that she uses when it's cold out. Which is weird because the cold is awesome and the best time for zoomies. The space heater looks like what my human calls "a fireplace," and she told it's cute.

It's not. It's evil, and scary, and should be gotten rid of. I want nothing to do with it.

For the first cold-and-white-and-wet-stuff season, I refused to go in the office. Why should I be murdered by the space heater too? My human kept pleading with me to come in and enticing me with treats.

What good's a treat if you're dead?!

No, unlike her, I am too smart for that.

I would slink past the doorway when she was working, and sometimes she looked really sad, staring at that funny blue screen she's always staring at. Don't humans know birds are for staring at and afternoons are for naps?

I know I make her happy when I am near her - she tells me all the time. One day, I mustered up the same courage I use to pass a leaf blower...and I ran past the heater onto my bed.

Oh boy, was my human happy! I've now starting coming in every day. I still don't love the scary space heater and slink by it like the villain it is. But sometimes a doggo's got to do what a doggo's got to do to make his human happy.

After all, isn't that what loves is? Making yourself a little uncomfortable to make someone else feel more comfortable? It's worth it when I see her smile as I lie down next to her.

Oh, and when she accidentally drops some of her snack on the floor.