Several more chapters read this week: 11, 12, 13

Chapter 11: The Pull of Passion
In this chapter Michelle begins by telling us how her dog Milan sits by the door all day waiting for Michelle to return. She equates this to love; stating that Milan does this because she loves Michelle and that Michelle is a priority to Milan. Michelle then talks about times when she has placed that kind of love and trust in human and the hurt she felt when they failed. Next she equates Milan's love to God's love for us and how we are a priority. But by the same token our love for God should be the same and God should be a priority with us but more often than not it is more like some of the human lover's Michelle has had.
Chapter 12: The Intrigue of Community
Here Michelle talks about how dogs link their owners into a community. She shares what happened when one of her dog walkers did something that upset Milan and how she would never trust him again to walk her. In paws to reflect Michelle discusses the sense of community and communal living that the first Christians enjoyed. Ultimately she shared how having and loving that little dog has brought her out of her self-centeredness into a life of community with others.
In Chapter 13: The Trouble With Jealousy Michelle talks about how male doggie friends of Milan's have expressed their jealousy and how Milan does not react well to their behavior. In Paws to Reflect she then equates that to how God may react when we spurn his love. She shares how a woman totally misunderstood the statement that "God is a jealous god." The woman thought that God was jealous of her. The woman really was quite arrogant to think such a thing. I agree with Michelle that God is jealous over us and not willing to share us with other gods. She then shared what happened when she was jealous over a man. I certainly know what she is talking about there, having been in the same place.
This is a fun book to read. The dog Milan does things that are very funny but then Michelle has a way of turning that into a lesson about God, God's love, what our response to that love should be. She hit the mark with this last chapter.