I think what the writers of the 1958 McCall’s magazine article 129 Ways to Get a Husband really meant when they said “get a dog and walk it” was “don’t become a crazy cat lady.”

Just. Do. Not. Become. A. Cat. Lady.

Lucky for me, I have a dog.

When I first read this article I thought that the whole idea of meeting someone walking your dog was a little crazy… except I guess it does happen? When I heard about someone who met her now husband on her daily walks with her rescue dog, I realized maybe there was something to that after all!

Of course I completely overlooked that 101 Dalmatians began with two lonely singles walking their dogs. When the two dogs locked eyes and fell instantly in “puppy love,” they wrapped their owners together in an accidental embrace. No cat is going to do that for you!

I’ve been walking my dog every morning this summer. Most mornings my neighbor and her pup join us. As our steps sync and we pause for the dogs’ breaks, we chatter on about our lives, families and jobs. These walks have become open doors into each other’s personal space. We encourage and challenge each other, and just knowing that she is outside waiting for me helps me get up and moving when I’d like to stay wrapped up in my cozy covers.

Some mornings my sweet, old-man Yorkie and I walk by ourselves. Dogs are an easy connection point between strangers, whether that’s children stopping to receive sloppy kisses, or other canine owners exchanging good mornings while their dogs sniff each other out. Someone with a dog is just somehow approachable, friendly and welcoming.

For most of my life, I struggled with walking alone. I felt an ache of loneliness, being less than and incomplete. I desired to be taking walks and walking through life with a husband. One day I cried out to God in my loneliness, and He summoned me to walk and talk with HIM. On these mornings when I am walking my pup alone, I do my best to talk with God. My thoughts scramble without writing them down, so this is not easy for me to do. I thank him for the sunrise or sunset, for the beautiful views, or for small reminders of his love and presence with me. Sometimes I will talk to Him about concerns I have, things that feel overwhelming and hopeless. Often, the words He speaks to me in those moments are the words on the pages of Scripture, tucked away in my heart. Sometimes they encourage me and other times they nudge me in a new way, gently showing me that I am in the wrong.

The Bible talks about a few men who walked with God: Enoch, Noah and Levi.

Levi was the son of Leah and Jacob. When he was born, Leah named him saying, perhaps now my husband will join me or become attached to me. His name implies joining together. Throughout their marriage, Leah was scorned by Jacob. He loved his other wife, Rachel, more. Rachel just so happened to be Leah’s younger, more beautiful sister. Jacob had been tricked into marrying Leah and he carried this resentment throughout their lives. Seeing her rejection, God blessed Leah with many children.

Isn’t He so good?

Malachi 2 says that Levi walked with God. He stood for peace, uprightness, and true instruction. Levi revered God’s name. In Genesis, however, Levi annihilated an entire tribe because they raped his sister Dinah. His father was angry about his actions. While Levi definitely stood for justice, this is a far cry from the peace he was known for. Even though Levi was not specifically mentioned, he was most likely antagonistic toward Joseph, his younger half-brother, the first son of Rachel. He and his brothers contrived the plan together to sell him as a slave and fake his death. These two messages about Levi seem at odds with one another. Did Levi walk with God and pursue peace? Or was he brutal and unforgiving?

Levi wasn’t perfect, but God chose him. Perhaps in his later years he sought after God and walked with Him. Levi’s decedents became the priests scattered throughout the nation, testifying to God’s ways, offering sacrifices as atonement for sin. This tribe did not have their own land inheritance, but instead lived among the other tribes.

Leah was longing for her husband’s love, connection, and attachment to her, just as God longed for Israel to live in relationship and connection with Him.

I want you to grasp the richness of this message. Leah was longing for her husband’s love, connection, and attachment to her, just as God longed for Israel to live in relationship and connection with Him. God gave Leah a son, Levi. This son walked with God and loved the Lord’s instruction. When God brought the people out of Egypt, the tribe of Levi, through Moses and Aaron, were God’s representatives of himself to them. He scattered them about each of the tribes. They offered sacrifices and made forgiveness and relationship possible with God. While Jacob gave Levi the curse of being scattered, God used it for good. The curse was God’s means of saturating His people with His presence.

Later, God would send Jesus, his Son, to live and teach His people. He walked among them and with them because He desires a relationship with each and every one of us. His death opened the door for the Holy Spirit to reside within us.

The curse was God’s means of saturating His people with His presence.

Like the Levite priests were among the Israelites, God is among us. He is not in a far off land, inaccessible to you and me. He is scattered about us, desiring connection and relationship.

Leah was married, and yet longed for a loving relationship with her husband. God used her anguish and loneliness to bring something better. He redeemed her story. He turned the brokenness of her relationship into a means to usher the entire world into a relationship with Him.

Whether you are a crazy cat lady, single and ready to mingle with the help of your dog, in a loveless marriage… or perhaps some other situation entirely… the beauty of this message is that God is crazy about you. He jumped through hoops and across oceans and through the universe to pursue you. Marriage or not… you are deeply and passionately loved, and He will redeem the brokenness of your story too.

Walk with Him.