Day 1148

Devotion is a nebulous beast. It takes years to develop and only a heartbeat to evaporate. The building blocks might take years to construct, but like the game, Jenga, it only takes one tiny mistake to make it all come crashing down.

If I had a recipe for Devotion, it might look like this…

Devotion:

*20 parts Trust

*10 parts Honest Communication

*10 parts Empathy

*10 parts Accountability

*10 parts Shared Values

*20 parts Reliability

*10 parts Transparency

*10 parts Vulnerability

Mix it all together with a heaping scoop of love and let it simmer forever.

My Goldens are certainly as devoted to us as we are to them… it’s usually a two-way street. When it is not, the emptiness can be unbearable. Of course, if certain ingredients are left out of the recipe, it will not work at all.

The trick is to visualize devotion as one of those playground teeter-totters from days of old. It works beautifully until someone decides to get off and lets the other one fall to a painful heap on the ground. Stay on that teeter-totter!

Devotion is such a gift to give and receive…it’s worth the “balancing act!”