Solomon wrote: I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts. (Eccl 3:18-19) The book of Ecclesiastes is not an easy book to fully comprehend for ordinary bible students, but after reading these two verses several times, and also by personal experience, I've come to this conclusion regarding it's meaning: (1) Oftentimes, our behavior is no better than that of the animals, especially in regards to thankfulness. We've all heard some women contend that all men are pigs, and while many of us may beg to differ, I suppose at one time or another, they may have seen a few of us eat like one. (2) I also perceive these verses to mean that men and animals alike make foolish mistakes, which they can later learn from. Let me add here that while we can learn from our mistakes, that is not always the case. Even when we do learn from our errors, it would have been better and less painful had we learned from someone else's blunders. The Bible also tells us: the heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge. (Pro 15:14) In other words, it is wise to always keep our eyes and ears open. We can all learn great things in doing so, and surprisingly, we often learn from unexpected sources. Such was the case with me. I again was reminded of some great spiritual truths by one of my dogs, Blackita. I had previously written about the time she chased after the dog catcher's truck. Well, apparently she got out of our fenced-in backyard and did it again because we found her the following day at the dog pound. Let me tell you her story and the valuable spiritual lessons in it. I first noticed her in a neighbor's front yard, tied to a tree about three years ago. She either got away or else they released her because she would always come to our gate every night when I fed our dogs. At first, she had a purple ribbon around her neck, which wasn't visible at night, since she has a shiny black coat. Feeling sorry for her, I would toss a few tidbits to the outside of our fence. One day when I opened the gate, she ran in to the backyard and decided she wanted to stay. I would put her out, but she would come in again at every chance. This didn't  seem to bother the neighbors. In fact, they moved out soon after and they didn't take Blackita with them, for she was still out in the street. When we noticed she was about to give birth, we brought her inside. Later, when she had complications, we took her to the vet. It cost us around 500 dollars to care for a dog that wasn't ours originally, and only one of her six puppies survived. His name is Wawito and he lives with us too. Here are the spiritual comparisons: Though Blackita has done some foolish things, she was wise enough to know that if she came to our house, someone would care for her. As far as dogs go, she's not very pretty. Still, my wife and I love her. That's what happened to us in Christ. Spiritually speaking, we were unlovely and out in the street, but when we came to Jesus, He lovingly took us in and adopted us into His family. From the beginning, taking Blackita in has cost us a lot, but this doesn't even come close to the price Jesus paid to save us. Her foolishness this second time to stray from her place and run after the wrong thing, almost cost her dearly. We got to the dog pound a half hour before closing time on Saturday. By Monday, she would have been no more. Again, her master came to rescue her. Whenever we get in a jam and cry for help, our Master comes to rescue us. Blackita is lucky, but not more than us!