Thursday 28 September 2006

Seeing the gospel everywhere...

This morning, as I was walking into work, I saw this lovely, big, black dog with a grey muzzle walking behind its owners, head down, tongue out, looking as if it was thinking, "Ok, I've done my business, can we go home now? If I weren't attached to that leash, I'd just lie down right here and wait for the sun to reach me. Oh no, am I turning into a ... *CAT*?"

Leaving aside the dog's possible identity crisis, you could just imagine that about 7 or 8 years ago, this same dog probably grabbed the leash off of the 7 foot high hook it hung from and ran to give it to its owner: "Come on, come on, let's go," then promptly dragged said owner around Oxford on a lightning tour of all the colleges. During this mental picture, an irreverent thought (do I have any other kinds?) popped into my head...there's a gospel passage here:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go
." (John 21:18, RSV)

See? The gospel applies to everything.

I'm not going to say it, I'm not going to say it...

I gotta say it.

Life's a bitch.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You could also compare the dog to some people in religious life. Or perhaps that is too morbid???

Or what about the consequences of a vow of obedience... all in the name of God's mercy and yours, Of Course!