God's Gracious Gift

As a general rule, I dislike "picking up" after people, being left to clean up their mess or worse, getting saddled with their responsibilities. Helping someone out is one thing, but having to take over that person's role because s/he is plain lazy is another thing altogether.

However, there is an exception to this: puppy-duty. :)

My cousin has a puppy, which needs to be fed from a baby milk bottle, and it's one of the best "jobs" ever!

That cute butterball bundle of fat with a round little tum has the ability to make even the grouchiest, grumpiest person smile, trust me on this one.

And he won't drink the milk immediately either! He'll play with it for awhile, testing your patience, and when he senses that his quota of cuteness is almost up, he'll begin to drink in earnest. He has this endearing idiosyncrasy of "playing" with the bottle: his forepaws will be scrabbling away like mad at it while he's drinking, unless you begin to scratch his back and tummy - then his furious activity will cease, but only for a short moment.

Next to salvation and grace, I think dogs are God's best gifts to the human race.