I would in no way suggest that a rescue dog is like an adopted child. However, there are some similarities in the anticipation and eagerness that awaits the approval process and arrival of the little one. Monday afternoon we got the okay to have a meet and greet with “our” dog in his foster setting with the option to take him home immediately afterwards.

We have been dog owners for a total of forty-five years (give or take some time off between pups). All of them have had long, and we like to think, wonderful lives. We have loved them all deeply and hopefully well.

But, it has been a long time since we have had a new one in the house. It is not like riding a bicycle. I have forgotten how to establish routines and discipline. Although I wonder if we ever did know? Anyone who knew us with our other dogs would probably say that we never established routines or disciplines with our scoundrels. Sad to say, we were probably more disciplined and scheduled with our boys than the dogs.

So, today we have Scuppers in our household. For those of you who may remember or who have little ones, the name comes from the Little Golden Book by Margaret Wise Brown, The Sailor Dog. Our little Scuppers is a mutt: seems to have some Chihuahua, Terrier and even Italian greyhound in the mix but we really do not know. He is compact but slightly bigger than our other dogs even though he weighs about the same. He is very well behaved and so far, a good citizen of the house. We have just begun the “two-week shut-down” strongly suggested by the rescue organization, where he is on a leash in the house and is always by my or my husband’s side. While a little skittish, he is more curious about his surroundings than frightened. He likes to play. He retrieves squeaky toys and wants to engage in tugs-of-war. His tearing into the stuffed animals and shaking of his head looks classic terrier to me. He likes to snuggle but hasn’t assumed leaping into my lap unannounced. We are smitten.

For our little pup, we wonder what his life was like before he was found on a lonesome county road in Texas. Was he hungry? Frightened? Mistreated? How did he survive? In looking up the address, it is so remote that there are no street views from Google. The town’s population was around 600 in the last census. In his minimal paper work, his background is sketchy. Was he dumped on the side of the road? Or just let go from someone who moved and couldn’t take him with them?

Scuppers makes me think of family and those we love and how we determine connection, care and sense of belonging with one another. Is it out of an obligatory genetic or blood bond? Or is there something more? What happens when our family lets us down? Do we only love and care for one another because we expect the same in return?

As humans, we have a responsibility to be stewards of animals and our natural world. We care for their wellbeing through practical actions. They return the care through their unconditional love. In some ways it seems easier to love animals than our fellow humans.

Within genetically bonded families there is no guarantee that one will be cared for and loved. Many go hungry, are frightened and mistreated within their own families. Many are rejected and tossed out. There are many people, who if asked, feel like strays within their own families.

I think of the earliest families noted in the Bible. Boy, talk about dysfunctional. But even within those stories, God was working in the dysfunction, calling the family back to himself, teaching them how to care and love one another and using them in creating a larger functional family, one in which all belong.

Unfortunately, humans have a tendency to group: saying we are finding common ground when if we are really honest, it is way of keeping ourselves above others. There are some people who are “in” or “acceptable” and some who are not. We can find ways to exclude fellow humans and not be in any position to love them. It is very easy for us to point out our differences, our “mutt mixtures” and say this group came from a broken background or the wrong neighborhood or are too unpredictable and unstable. It is too easy to say that because of those issues, there is no hope for change.

But, there is always the possibility of change in the right environment. Nature versus nurture. In many arguments about these two entities, there is equal weight assigned to change in the nature versus nurture: 50% of genetics cannot be changed- meaning 50% can. Likewise 50% of one’s background cannot be changed, but 50% can going forward. There is truth to the self-fulfilling prophecy- If we say often enough that certain people will always be one way or another and it is preset either through genetics or societal development, we do not allow possibility of change to occur. But it is also true if we encourage, love and set people up for success, change can happen.

It does make me think of how God is calling us to be people in community. To be people who, while we may not have any obvious familial obligations, should try to get along and care for one another. If we think about it, all of us are “mutt mixtures” and come from some type of dysfunction. Yet God loves us anyway. If God allows us to belong, how can we deny someone else? How beautiful to think that each of us can bring a different variety, skill, or interest to the “familial” table.

What about you? Do you feel that you are sitting at the “familial” table? Do you feel finally home? With your family or friends? With your sense of belonging? What is missing?

Watching Scuppers sleep, I want to tell him that he can rest now. He is finally home. I think that is what God is wanting to tell each one of us. No longer do we need to feel scared, lost or lonely. We belong to a diverse family of God. It might not be a family into which we were born but one by which we find ourselves surrounded- our community or our neighborhood.

We belong because God loved us first. We do not have to do anything special or be anyone special. We just have to believe that God loves us and has done everything so that we can just come and be with Him and His family. We do not have to be in competition with one another and be afraid that only a certain kind will be chosen. We can relax because everyone belongs. And we can keep an open seat for someone else because there is more than enough room at the table.