Sacrifices

I don't remember the title of the short, but it's the one with the dog. Whatever it is called, the short impacted me much more than what I anticipated.  I started watching the short with an open mind, admiring the wood-cut(?) look to it. The dog starts barking at the bad people and I'm wondering where this short will go. Then the man gets mad at the dog, scolds it, and goes back to sleep. The process repeats except this time the man cuts off the dog's tail. By this time I realize where the story is going, or at least, where I think it'll go.

My eyes start to fill with tears and I hope that they don't spill out onto my cheek as the dog's tail is cut off. Sacrifice has always been something that I've held very close to my heart. The dog knew that when he (or maybe a she??) barked the man would punish him. But the dog was loyal and decided to protect the man and woman anyway. The dog gave every part of himself in order to protect the couple. The couple didn't acknowledge or even realize the dog's sacrifice.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was one of the stories I loved as a child, I still love it. The tree gives literally all of itself to a little boy. The boy never said thank you, but the tree was happy. Even as a child I realized how huge sacrifices are. I always imagined The Giving Tree as a parallel to the relationship between God and his people - us. I don't know if Shel Silverstein intended The Giving Tree's lesson to be taken spiritually... but that's how my young mind took it.

God gave us everything and continues to give us everything, His son. Most of the time we abuse God, we hurt Him and we hardly ever say thank you. We are taking God's apples and cutting of his tail. We are selfish beings, yet God still loves us the same. God gave us His one and only son and He continues to keep his covenant with us.

I'm glad Prof. Leeper showed that short today in class. I needed to be reminded of the glorious, wonderous sacrifice our God has made for all of us.