Puppy Love - The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional

Puppy Love

I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

John 13:34-35

My middle daughter, Jasmine, has always had an affinity for animals. Whenever we visit a home with pets, she will stay with the dog or cat, spending time with it and showing it love. It’s as if animals offer a comfort to her like nothing else does. One winter, while visiting a friend who had a new puppy, we once again saw how Jasmine loved the dog, and we decided it was time for our family to get one of our own. We searched the Internet for a local breeder and surprised our kids with a new puppy.

Kyle and I are not particularly animal people. It had never crossed our minds to get a pet before Jasmine came into our lives. Whenever I had to take the puppy outside in the middle of cold Minnesota winter nights, I would think about what comfort the puppy was offering my daughter—how she’d lie by him at night, petting him and whispering to him. I would remember that often we do things for others, even sacrificially, because we see that it benefits them.

Jesus’ love for us is so great, and his most important commandment to us is a reflection of that: we are to love each other just as he has loved us, because that is how we will prove to the world that we are his disciples. Sacrificial love is not easy. Even with our children or other loved ones, putting their needs above our own comfort is challenging at times. We must certainly maintain balance in also taking care of ourselves, but we must make sure that in doing so, we are still showing God’s love and kindness toward those around us, even when there is no personal benefit we will gain from it.

—Kendra

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Do a kind act that does not benefit you.