Brandon: Weaver's contentment lesson for all

About seven years ago, we lost our beloved dachshund named Weaver and I still think of him often today.

He had been a part of our family since he was 6 weeks old. Some might have characterized Weaver as docile and easy going. He seemed that way because his days were spent sleeping and looking out the front window. Rarely did his expression change and his barking could be rated as sparse.

During the warm summertime, Weaver wanted to stay in the house to be with us. In the winter when cold harsh winds blew outside, Weaver was comfortable and safe inside the house, curled up in my lap while I was sitting on the recliner.

link Judy Brandon

Columnist

On those cold winter nights when temperatures dropped and things outside perished in the harsh elements, Weaver’s personal environment was a bounteous one. He was warm, happy to be asleep and well satisfied to just be in the house with us.

This was the way Weaver was — happy and satisfied, living in the animal kingdom. Every day of his life, he was content if he were full and comfortable and around us.

As Charlie, Buffy and I would go about our daily activities at night, Weaver would just sit.

If I were reading, he couldn’t appreciate that because he didn’t know what books were for.

If we were watching a travel show on Italy, Weaver had no idea because his world was our house, the back yard, his food and water bowl and our bed.

If the nightly news came on, Weaver was ignorant and couldn’t relate because he had no idea about current events or the happenings in our world.

Weaver’s world was small and easily defined. It was simple and safe.

The difference in Weaver and us was that we live in a world that is in direct opposite from Weaver’s animal world. Yet, in Weaver’s mind, he was really living even though he was oblivious to a world of knowledge, reason and spiritual values.

Weaver didn’t concern himself with global warming or the economy. He could have cared less about war and the crisis in the Middle East. Weaver had no idea if the crime rate were up or down or what crime was for that matter.

He for sure didn’t worry about his weight and didn’t spend sleepless nights thinking about goals and objectives for his future.

Weaver didn’t feel guilt.

Weaver was born into the dog kingdom. Weaver knew nothing of the spiritual dominion of our lives, of those who dearly loved him, because he had no idea of anything spiritual and beyond.

People have always sought to know that spiritual dimension. When Jesus told Nicodemus that “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God,” (John 3:3) Nicodemus was puzzled and thought Jesus was referring to the physical birth. He asked Jesus how could he physically go through that birth again.

Rephrased, Jesus was saying that we are all born into this carnal world and a physical existence. Yet, we cannot fathom what more exists for us until we are born spiritually into the kingdom of God.

Jesus explained to Nicodemus that the first birth was a physical birth by flesh, by water. Yet, a man, he said, must be born of the spirit. Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus gave him the entire plan.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Weaver was as content as he could be in this life. Yet we have the promise of something much greater. Being born into the kingdom of God is a privilege offered to all human beings. Only in that realm do we find the assurance for our future and contentment beyond our physical circumstances.

Judy Brandon is a Clovis resident. Contact her at:

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