Over and Above: A Dog’s Perspective

This morning started like most do around our place. 
I heard the biscuit bucket rattle before the sun even got fully stretched awake. 

Now I may just be a dog, but I know the sound of generosity when I hear it. 
My human always gives me one of the biscuits… and then, most days, another “just because.”

That second biscuit?
That’s what got me thinking.

Later on, I laid under my human’s feet on the porch while he listened to a sermon with someone talking about giving. 

Then I heard my human read aloud from 2 Corinthians 9:7:

"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Now I don’t know all the big preacher words, but I know cheerful. 
Cheerful is a tail wag. 
Cheerful is happy feet on the hardwood floor. 
Cheerful is giving because your heart wants to, not because somebody growled at you to do it.
Cheerful is taking a freshly cooked meal to folks down the road because they need it.
Cheerful is giving because you want to not because you have to.

Us dogs understand this pretty well. 
If I bring my human a slobbery tennis ball, I’m not expecting payment. 
I’m giving because I love him. 
Sure, I’d appreciate a snack afterward, but that isn’t the point. 
Love gives. 
Real love gives gladly.

A bit later on that same porch, my human quoted Pastor Tony Walliser:

“Don’t give God your leftovers…”

That sentence hit me harder than my human’s shin accidentally hitting the corner table.

See, sometimes humans treat God like the last stop instead of the first. 
You give Him leftover time…
Leftover energy… 
Leftover attention…
Leftover dollars after everything else gets fed first. 

But God never treats His children that way. 
He didn’t give leftovers at Calvary. 
He gave His very best in Jesus.

And that got this old dog to thinking about supper time.

If my human scraped cold leftovers into my bowl every single day while sitting down to a feast himself, I’d still love him… because dogs are built that way. 
But oh, how different it feels when he gives me something fresh straight from the smoker. 
That tells me I matter to him.

Friend, your giving says something about what matters to you.

Now this devotion isn’t just about money. 
It’s about your whole heart. 
Give kindness over and above. 
Give forgiveness over and above. 
Give encouragement over and above. 
Love people more than expected. 
Serve more than required. 
Worship louder than your worries.

And do it without a grumble.

Nobody likes hearing a growling giver. Not even us dogs.

So tonight, while I’m stretched out on the porch watching the fireflies blink across the yard, I’m remembering this:

God loves a cheerful giver because cheerful giving looks a whole lot like Him.

And if a human can give over and above for an old dog like me…

Well… maybe I can learn to live that way too.