Weep not for me though I am gone
Into that gentle night
Grieve if you will, but not for long
Upon my soul's sweet flight.
I am at peace, my soul's at rest
There is no need for tears.
For with your love I was so blessed
For all those many years.
There is no pain, I suffer not,
The fear now all is gone.
Put now these things out of your thoughts,
In your memory I live on.
Remember not my fight for breath
Remember not the strife
Please do not dwell upon my death,
But celebrate my life.

By: Constance Jenkins, written in loving memory of Isolde Jenkins
Copyright 1992 Constance Jenkins, All Rights Reserved, Reprinted by permission



Regarding animals and their offspring- there is no difference between the pain of humans and the pain of other living beings. Since the love and tenderness of the mother for the young are not produced by reasoning, but by feeling, and this faculty exists not only in humans but in all living beings.
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204)



"You think there will not be dogs in heaven? I tell you they will be there before any of us."
Robert Louis Stevenson



Animals Do Have a Soul

In the Old Testament, the soul means "living being." The soul is the living being of a person or an animal. The soul is the psyche, the mind, the emotions, the self-image -- the psychological being apart from the spiritual being.

The King James Authorized Version, revised and edited by W.C. Sanderson, indicates in a footnote that "soul" or "living being" are alternative translations for "life." The soul perceives, thinks, feels, and makes decisions and choices. In man, the soul can also cause sin. God gave man the choice to choose sin or righteousness, to worship himself or God.

The lesser animals were not given this choice. God put them under the protection and dominion of man.

By: By Mary Buddemeyer-Porter



Animals Do Have a Spirit

The word "spirit" (ruach in Hebrew) means "wind, breath -- the living power of God's will at work." The spirit is the essence and will of God given to all humans and animals.

"I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals. After all, the same fate awaits man and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either. They are both going to the same place - the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it. How can anyone be sure that a man's spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?" (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 TEV)

God has dominion over both his lesser creatures and man. All souls belong to Him and God can do with all His creatures whatever He chooses. The Book of Job says:

"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:9-10 KJV)
By: Mary Buddemeyer-Porter



...Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you...I loved you so - 'twas Heaven here with you. --- Isla Pachal Richardson




Buddy was my friend, my baby, my guardian, and in some ways my saviour. When nobody else was there he was a loyal companion, always by my side, always ready to make me smile. In the 11 and a half years we were together, nobody has ever loved me so unconditionally as he did. When it was discovered he was suffering from congestive heart failure I was crushed. We were told he had months to live. By March of '98 I was spending almost $200 a month on medication. His breathing had become labored, he could no longer do things he used to do, he was fighting for his life. The vet said his heart was getting very weak. The decision to put him to sleep before he seriously began to suffer was the hardest thing I have ever done. I had one week to spend with him, loving him, spoiling him, saying goodbye. On March 13, 1998, the animal who had been my world since I was 11 years old, died peacefully in my arms.

Good bye baby... I know you're an angel in the sky looking over me now. Be at peace, I'll love you always & forever.