Howling in Prayer

Many dogs ago we had howlers.  You know, the ones that howl whenever they hear a siren.  Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, tornado sirens.  I had one cocker that would howl to some rock music.  Come to think of it my Dad howled at that too.  The howlers we had even taught the non-howlers to sing along.  It was impressive.  

Two things come to mind when I hear sirens.  Howling dogs and prayer.  I always pray for the first responder's. Dear Lord, keep them safe.  I have no clue when I started doing this.  

But then, I think of the dogs who howled.  Of course I wonder about fire house dogs...do they howl too?  Now most of us have howled ourselves.  Howled in laughter, howled in despair.  Howled at the injustice of life.  

I imagine sometimes howls, like tears, are the only suitable response.  In releasing that howl we open ourselves up to new responses.  In the case of the dogs, they probably got told to stop making that racket.  They probably didn't, and so we prayed for the sirens to pass quickly. 

Now I just pray when I hear sirens.  Maybe I have the dogs to thank for that.