The other day while I was waiting for my car to be serviced, I sat near a woman with a large black dog resting at her feet. The dog wore a special harness with a sign printed on it, “Please do not disturb me. I am a working dog. Please do not pet me.” I noticed the woman was reading, so I figured she probably wasn’t blind. I figured she probably wasn’t deaf either because she was reading a manual for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. So I wondered what sort of work her dog did for her. However, even though I love dogs, I respected the sign. I did not pet the dog.
After a while, the woman stood up and walked over to a stack of newspapers. I noticed she wasn’t all that steady on her feet and that she held onto the dog’s harness strap as she walked. The dog was right by her side attentive to her every move.
When the woman came back to her seat, the dog came over to me and put her head firmly in my lap. I scratched her behind the ears and said some nice things to her. The woman started to talk with me about what a wonderful help the dog is to her. I asked her what kind of work the dog does. The woman explained that she has arthritis and has trouble moving around. She said that when one of her legs drags or she starts to lose her balance, the dog helps her to keep moving and stay steady on her feet. She said the dog is especially helpful when she goes up and down. “She is my momentum,” the woman said.
The woman mentioned that, before she came to her, the dog had been rescued by a dog trainer. The trainer had noticed the dog was highly sensitive and taught the dog how to use her sensitivity to help others. The woman told me that not only does the dog help her keep her momentum, but she warns her when her blood sugar is low. The woman said the dog can sense when her energy drops and nudges her so she takes better care of herself and doesn’t pass out.
As the dog continued to rest her head in my lap and I continued to scratch her behind the ears, the woman told me she is a kindergarten teacher and that the dog helps her in class. A few times each day, the dog will pick up an empty water bottle and drop it in a child’s lap. That is a signal for that particular child to fill the dog’s bowl with water. The woman told me it is considered a major honor in her classroom whenever a child is chosen by the dog to be of service in this way.
When the dog finished our precious moment of peace together, she went over and laid her head in the woman’s lap. The woman stroked the dog’s head and spoke to me of how grateful she is to have been blessed with such a gift in her life.
The dog’s name?
Grace.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MOMENTUM — LETTING LOVE LEAD

Being in the loving in the moment is an option that is continually available — a choice that everyone has the power to make. It takes enormous strength to stay in the loving in the face of inner and outer challenges, and the distractions of daily life. But, it’s a choice well worth making.
— from the book, Momentum: Letting Love Lead: Simple Practices for Spiritual Living, by John-Roger with Paul Kaye. Available at www.msia.org/store.

Participate in the webcast class, Momentum: Letting Love Lead, facilitated by John Morton at www.msia.org/class.

Participate in the PTS Letting Love Lead Email Class. Register at www.pts.org starting May 1. Class runs June 4 — 24, 2006.

Listen to the CD, Letting Love Lead: Excerpts for Maintaining Momentum, by John-Roger. Available at www.msia.org/store.