Look for the stars

Only in the dark can you see the stars.

Here’s the thing, though - they’re always there.

Regardless of how bad things get, how cloudy it is, how brightly the sun shines, the stars are still there, quietly shining away.

But it is only in the darkness that we can see their beauty to appreciate them.

So it is with life, and especially with our pets. Sometimes “bad” behavior makes it challenging to love our pets (ask me about the week that my cat spent peeing on a rug that I didn’t know about… 😑).

But just like not being able to see the stars, that’s just “the weather.” Underneath it, they are still the same loveable pet that they have always been.

Sometimes challenging behavior can make us appreciate the good behavior all that much more. When you put in countless hours, and (hopefully only a little) blood, sweat, and (often many) tears, when you get to see their sparkle, and it gets noticed, it is all that much sweeter.

Someone observed my horse and I after a lesson one day, and commented “oh, he’d make a great horse for my friend’s husband!” When I heard that I started laughing in that I can’t really just believe you said that kind of way, and told her “Ma’am, I’m sorry, this would the the worst horse for your friend’s husband. Good horses aren’t born, they’re made, and it has taken a lot of work for this horse to look this good right now.”

She saw the outcome of all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I had put into our relationship. She never saw the hours of struggle, the frustration, the exhaustion, and the ‘why am I still doing this’ questions that kept me up at night. Having someone only notice the stars in our relationship was a real gift in the moment, and reminded me of just how far we had come together.

So the next time you get caught up in being upset that it’s dark (again), take a moment and see if you can look for the stars. I promise you, they are there, quietly shining away, waiting to be noticed.