Finding the balance of where we are

GoD and DoG
by Wendy Francisco

GoD and DoG Store
GoD and DoG Thoughts
"I look up and I see GoD"
The one thing that bugged me about this line is that I don't really think of God as being "up" in a directional sense. But when you look "up" in your heart, you ultimately conclude God...at least I do.

"I look down and see my dog."
I hope that the first two lines of the song convey that people are in the middle, between two kinds of sincere devotion.

"Simple spelling G O D, Same word backwards, D O G."
In the English language, this is an amusing reality. It doesn't hold true for other languages, but is simply one of those linguistic coincidences that poets capitalize on. It just happens that the inverted spelling of these two words fits my song beautifully. I don't think there is any cosmic signifigance in this.

"They would stay with me all day."
The main reason I wrote God and Dog is that humans naturally seem to think of God as a Zeus-like judgemental guy - and that you have to walk on eggshells or he will pitch some lightening at you, and then turn in an offended huff and leave you. Then we form religions and present this wrong idea of God in an organized and seemingly well founded way. But God loves people, knows each of us deeply, and longs to be close to every one of us.

"I'm the one who walks away."
Everytime I leave my dog to go do something "important", he gives me a look that says, "I wish I could be with you". Many people think they have failed and that God has left them. So they leave God. Crazy, but quite common. But God loves us in spite of what we consider to be our failures.

"But both of them just wait for me and dance at my return with glee."
My dog has a party when I return even if I have been gone only 10 minutes. The prodigal son left home and squandered everything his father had given him. The father didn't follow his son and hurl judgements and insults. He just waited. When his son returned, the dad didn't say a thing about what his son had done. He was so thrilled to have him back that he threw a big party.

"Both love me no matter what, divine God and canine mutt. "
We know how loving our dogs are. Their relationship to us is not based on a scorecard. Well many people think that God talleys our mistakes like an accountant who tracks every penny. But, if this were true then it would be impossible to have an authentic friendship with God. We would all either be intolerably proud, or we'd be disfuctionally humiliated. This is why dead religion is made of intolerably proud people telling disfunctionally humiliated people what to do.

"I take it hard each time I fail but God forgives, Dog wags his tail".
If you don't believe that forgiveness is a huge aspect of who God is, you won't be able to forgive yourself... or anybody else either.

"God thought up and made the dog, dog reflects a part of God".
The order of creation in Genesis loosely reflects what science is telling us. This is fascinating. My favorite things to read are the Bible, and popular science books of all kinds. I think God expressed himself in the things we see around us.

"I've seen love from both sides now, it's everywhere, amen, bow wow."
When you force and control an animal, something deep inside it retreats and you miss out. Do that enough and your life becomes silent, lonely, and cold. It's the same with our relationships to each other. When people control people, something deep inside retreats and goes cold, intelligence is suppressed, physical health begins to decline, things unravel.

Some people think that God manipulates and controls, but to me it looks like beings have been made to flourish in the presence of love and freedom. This is the most tangible and direct evidence for the existence of God - that love brings health, wholeness, and vibrance. Love is the powerful force that nurtures life. And God is love.

"I look up and I see God, I look down and see my dog
And in my human frailty, I can't match their love for me."

GoD and DoG love me unwaveringly and I can't match it. But I am learning...