Friday, July 13, 2012

A dog-eat-dog world

We are dog (and cat and you name it in the animal world) lovers. We have too many dogs and too many cats, but what can you do when you believe you should save pets as often as humanly possible from what we do to them and with them (shelters, etc.)?

Loving them, therefore, is difficult when two of them apparently have lost all love for each other. We have a 12-year-old who is apparently getting quite grouchy in her old age. We have a bigger younger model who won't put up with the 12-year-old.

They've begun a fight three times in the two weeks we've been in our new parsonage. We can rationalize that they are feeling misplaced, that they were traumatized by the move, that rainy weather has taken the pleasure out of this week, or they just don't like each other very much. But it's a problem. If there is any thought, just a thought, of a morsel of food falling on the ground, it's thrilla in Manilla, rumble in the jungle, MMA pay-for-view in Eunice time.

Brooms, hands onto collars, water sprayed, grandkids screaming, to quote another commercial, "here we go."

Pondering all this on still another rainy day of entrapment, I tried to put it into human perspective. Sounds much like, well, this country doesn't it?

Like someone once said: "Can't we just get along?"

The answer, apparently, is no. We can't agree on taxes, cuts or anything else. We can't agree on health care, fer it or agin it. We can't agree on the future, the past and the present is so filled with trouble we can't even try to explain it.

We're the Hatfields and McCoys, the Israelites and Philistines, the Middle East with no state line of demarcation.

What can we do? Everything. What will we do? Nothing. Heck even the daughters of college football coaches are getting into fights.

Jesus came to set the prisoners free. He never used the term "grace" once, but he lived and demonstrated grace every day. He did have much to say about forgiveness and love, even saying we should love our enemies.So, why can't we do that? Why can't we, those of us who are calling ourselves Christian demonstrate the love we've been given?

Some readers will say they are doing that, but if you read someone say that someone else's actions "disgust" them, I question that love or at least the demonstration of it.

The skies are dark today. Perhaps they will lighten again -- in this country, in this world. I suspect that won't happen figuratively until we learn to forgive, learn to love, learn to at least handle our disagreements without turning them into prize fights. It's a dog eat dog world out there, still.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved this Billy. Disgust IS a strong word, but remember that we can love the sinner & hate the sin. Elsie :)

Anonymous said...

amen x 10000000000000000000000000000
Kevin H