Early on Monday we left the house for our morning walk with our dog, Pancake.

The sun was beginning to rise over the trees in our neighborhood as we walked out of our front door.
Like most mornings in May the birds were singing, flying from roof to roof, alerting us of their presence.
A few minutes later, as we made our way up the hill, we heard more than the birds, but a puppy.

Pancake’s ears went up and back at the sound of the high pitched noise.
Just a year earlier he was making similar sounds.
He was on high alert.

From beneath a car parked on the street crawled a brown and gray puppy.
His cries were desperate and seemingly hopeful, or so I attempted to translate.
With his head up he walked right up to us, bringing forward his big eyes and wagging tail.
He placed his paws on my thigh and looked me in the eyes as he squeaked a little louder.

The puppy had on a dirty and ripped skin tight shirt to go along with a tag-less collar.

I scooped the puppy up and we went home.

As Sarah researched what to do with the puppy, I sat out back and held the puppy in my arms.

I scrolled through Nextdoor and Lost and Found Animal pages on Facebook.

Something inside of me knew he wasn’t being looked for. 

Someone would be looking for their puppy if they wanted it.

“What’s your name?”, I asked the puppy.

He tilted his head as if to say, “you tell me, buddy.”

“How about we call you Monday?”

He yipped. 

Monday it was. 

We posted a few photos of Monday on the internet and researched what to do with a lost dog.

Keep it commented one stranger.

We couldn’t. 

I wanted to.

We set up a playpen in our kitchen for Monday to play in while we figured out what to do next.
Pancake nervously paced around Monday, circling him like a shark in the water.

As we continued to search for answers Monday played with a chew toy, taunting Pancake all the while. 

For the next 4 hours we juggled Zoom calls, barking dogs, and work responsibilities before hopping in the car to take Monday to Animal Care and Control.

It was the only place to take him.

We didn’t want to say goodbye to Monday, but we knew we couldn’t handle another puppy.

Most of the morning I wondered why we were the ones to find Monday.

I guess this is the part of the blog where I mention God.

The night before we found Monday, Sarah and I were talking about how busy of a day Monday would be for us.

Meetings, long to-do lists, phone calls, cleaning, and gatherings.

But Monday got in the way of Monday.

Thankfully.

God knew what I needed on Monday.

I’m still learning that He knows what we need.

As we brought Monday to our home I thought about St. Francis of Assisi.

He was a Catholic preacher and the patron saint of animals.

I would have wanted to be his friend had we been alive at the same time. 

I’m sure he would have kept Monday.

According to the internet St. Francis said, “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

We weren’t doing the impossible, but we were certainly doing what was necessary.

Life and loving should come before work and to-do lists.

Monday needed us and I think I needed Monday.

In the few hours we were together he taught me to slow down and to be gentle.

That isn’t a lesson you can buy or learn from a self-help book.

We don’t deserve dogs or the lessons they teach us.

It’s almost as if God is working through creation to teach creation.

Even on a Monday.

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