Love Is a Shape

There are certain moments in life when the quiet feels louder than anything else.  Love is a shape that is left when we experience a loss. Ours was in the shape of our dog Weegee.

The other morning, I woke up and caught myself waiting to hear Weegee’s claws clicking across the wood floor.  He’d sit patiently like a furry little alarm clock, stretch his whole body in that dramatic “good morning world” way, and then give us his signature nudge that meant, “Hey humans… I’m awake, so you should be too. Let’s potty and start this day!”

But this time, there was only stillness. And in that stillness, a wave of ache rolled over me.  Those are the moments that catch you off guard.

Grief, I’m learning, has a way of sneaking into the ordinary spaces, the spaces someone used to fill without ever trying. You don’t notice how much presence lives in a moment until the moment is gone. You don’t realize how deeply love shapes your life until you feel the outline it leaves behind.

And that’s when it struck me: love leaves a shape.

It’s not a void.
Not a failure.
Not an absence.
A shape.

A contour of the life we shared.
A reminder of how God wired us to connect.
Evidence of the gift we were given.

The Ache That Proves God’s Love

Weegee wasn’t just a pet. He had this almost God-led softness about him… a tender intuitiveness that made guests feel welcome, made family feel seen, made us feel accompanied in ways words never could. He filled rooms with his presence, even while barely making a sound.

Now that he’s gone, the quiet feels different. He shaped our days more than we realized.

But here’s the truth I will always come back to:

We only grieve deeply when we’ve first loved deeply.

Grief isn’t the opposite of love; it’s the echo of it. The ache you feel is the imprint of something God-given. It’s the heart remembering. It’s love saying, “What we had mattered.”

Scripture tells us that we are made in God’s image. The image of a God who feels, who loves, who cares deeply.
If God didn’t intend for love to matter, He wouldn’t have designed our hearts to hold so much of it, or to hurt when we have loss.

The ache is not a sign of God’s absence.
It’s evidence of His design.  Evidence of what we had.

Love Shapes Us… and It Stays

When someone or something has loved you well, they leave a shape behind.  It is not to torment you, but to remind you of the gift you experienced.

The shape might look like:

• The empty spot on the couch where they curled up
• The routine that now feels incomplete
• The laughter they brought into your home
• The comfort they carried just by being near

These shapes linger because love leaves an impact.  And not the messy kind, but the kind that enriches your soul. Even in the pain, I find myself grateful. The ache is heavy, yes… but it’s also holy.

It means he mattered.
It means the love was real.
And it means God used a little “poochini” to teach me something big about His heart.

Weegee Makes a Hire

One of our favorite Weegee blessings is from when we had our business in Indiana.  Weegee was with us at the office every day.  All of our employees knew him and loved him; he couldn’t wait to get there each day to see who he would see or meet.

On Wednesdays each week, we had a set time, 1-3 pm, where anyone could walk into our office, fill out an application, and get a screening interview on the spot.  When Weegee would hear the bell of the front door, he would run out of our office to greet whoever was coming through the door.

Enter Brian! 

One Wednesday, as Carmen and I are sitting in our office, we hear the familiar ring of the bell when our front door opens. Carmen steps out of the office to see this scene unfold. I’ll let her tell you in her own words.

Carmen: I saw this tall, slender man timidly step inside. As I looked at him, I could see he had had a hard life–worn on his face and in the same way he carried himself. He was trying to be as small as possible. I said hi, and he barely raised his head to look at me…guarded.

And then…Weegee trots out of our office behind me, his tail wagging and on a mission to give Brian some love. Brian is looking at Weegee, and I’m watching Brian change right before my eyes. Everything about Brian seemed lighter as he crouched down to meet Weegee. Brian’s voice went up 10 octaves as he and Weegee were having a moment. He won Weegee and me over that day.

I knew right then that Brian would be working with us, if he wanted to, that is.

If it weren’t for Weegee, I would not have seen the real Brian, the one with a good heart, who had hope despite what he had been through in life. All the things that may have looked like “barriers” never were.

When it came to being an employee, Brian was always there, come rain, hail, sleet, or snow. He took pride in his work. Our customer loved him. They hired him a few years later, in fact. Roy felt bad for “hiring him out from under us”, but we were so happy for Brian we couldn’t be angry. We knew they could give him so much more than we ever could. Brian was a blessing, and Weegee knew that the moment he met him.

We Will Always Remember

Funny thing is that hiring Brian has always been a moment that has stayed with Scott and me.

Right before we moved to Florida, we got to hear how that fateful day impacted Brian. He was our employee of the year the year before. I believe it sticks with me because prayers were answered.  Weegee was God’s love in that space on that day, and lives were changed that day. God was moving.

Scott: So at that last meeting with our team before moving, after covering some housekeeping items, we asked if anyone had anything they wanted to share, which several did – it touched our hearts.  And then Brian stood up…he wanted to share.

Brian wanted to take a moment to share how grateful he was that we took a chance on him.  And then, to our surprise, he shared about walking into our office that first day to fill out an application and get an interview. 

He said, “When I walked in, I was so scared and nervous, and I was ready to turn around and walk right back out.  But then I saw this dog, Weegee, coming to greet me.  I suddenly felt calmer and at peace, and decided to stay and fill out an application. Thank you for the chance you gave me!”

Before Brian finished sharing, we were all in tears and passing the tissue box around the room.

So, you tell me, was it Weegee that made the hire?

A Glimpse into God’s Heart

If the love of a quiet, gentle dog can leave this kind of imprint, how much more must the love of God leave a shape on our lives?

Every place we feel seen…
every moment we feel comforted…
every time grace meets us where we are…

It’s God shaping us — slowly, consistently, lovingly.

And sometimes, He does it through companions we never saw coming.

Weegee had a ministry of presence. He didn’t preach, didn’t sing, didn’t offer theological insight, and he never barked either. He simply was – steady, attentive, comforting. And maybe that’s why the grief is so sharp now: because his presence mirrored God’s comfort in a way few things can.

He even had a signature hug: he’d walk behind you, poke his head between your legs, step forward so he was right beneath you, then look straight up with a smile and a wagging tail. And if you sat, he’d lie a few feet away, facing outward, as if guarding you. He did this with people… and with horses, donkeys, goats, cats, even a gopher tortoise.

Pain Is the Price of Meaning

As I sit with this, I’ve realized something that’s helping me breathe again:

Pain is not punishment.  It’s the price of having experienced something meaningful.

If life had been dull, detached, or disconnected, there would be nothing to grieve.
But it wasn’t. And there is.

The shape love leaves behind is the evidence that something beautiful happened here.

What Shape Is Love Leaving in You?

You may not be grieving a dog today.
You may be grieving a season, a dream, a friendship, or a chapter of life that shifted before you were ready.

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Whatever the loss is, here’s my gentle Encouragement of the Week:

Pay attention to the shape it leaves.
It’s not empty.
It’s not meaningless.
And, it’s not wasted. It’s a reminder. A reminder that your heart is capable of deep, God-shaped connection – because you were made by a God who loves in ways far deeper than we can imagine.

And the shape love leaves?
It stays with you.
It changes you.
And with time, it becomes part of your everyday life, not as pain, but as gratitude. So be it.