Lucy had cancer. We did what we could, including chemotherapy, but in the end she wasn’t going to get better. It was a very difficult decision to put her down, but we knew it was the right thing to do. So I loaded her in the car and took her to the vet and they euthanized her.
Having a loved pet die is pretty difficult. For me it brought out a range of emotions, one of which was how bad I felt that I had “killed” my pet. Realizing that I had control of whether this living, loving animal lived or died, and actually naming the day and time she would die made me feel bad.
But then God reminded me of something, he gave us dominion over all living creatures. Genesis 1:26 tells us “… and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” I used to think that all this meant was that we were at the top of the food chain and we could do whatever we wanted to animals.
I see things a little differently now. Now I believe that having “dominion” over animals means that God has placed them in our care. Just like the rest of the earth God created, we are custodians of all living creatures, and how we treat them is important. It also means that we have the right to decide whether they live or die. My wife and I had to make a difficult decision with Lucy, and I was feeling bad about it, but now I realize that it’s part of my custodial rights and duties, and in making the decision to stop Lucy’s suffering I used that right in a humane way.
God has given us great power over the earth. It doesn’t mean that we can abuse it, we need to manage its resources, both animal and mineral with the principles He gave us.
“God, thanks for letting us have Lucy for 12 years. She was a great friend. And thanks for teaching me a lesson in all this. My life with you is a constant classroom. Thanks.”
