Isaiah 11:5-7

As you all know, I am an animal lover. I love cats and dogs but my heart goes out to all animals.

I probably go overboard trying to give my cats and dog pleasant lives (at the expense of humans!) and I spend time trying to figure out what this or that cat is thinking when it sprays the furniture or what frustrations Choco must have if she is digging up the yard. As someone pointed out, one can hardly figure out people psychology why worry about animal psychology? True... true... But I do.

Here is Toi HANGING on the front door handle. Even though I try to provide a comfortable atmosphere for my cats, Toi especially has his quirks and does not like Velvet and Cleo. A big bully, that's what Toi is! So in order to keep Velvet happy and because Toi's frustrations are beginning to extend to the other cats, I have been letting him out regularly every morning. He plays in the forest for an hour or two and always comes back. He seems very happy and the other cats are very happy that he is not around. Problem solved. I have kept peace in the animal kingdom.

WRONG! Last week Toi brought home a mole. Watch Tanya freak out!

"BAD CAT!!! DON'T CATCH MOLES!!! POOR MOLE!"

My cat is a murderer. Tetsu removed the mole for me.

Yesterday Toi brought home a quail.

"NO, NO, NO!!! LET THE QUAIL GO!!!!"

I ran to the yard and Toi took the opportunity to bring the quail (dead) into the house and upstairs. I was screaming and stamping and the other cats were flying. Finally I got the poor quail away from Toi and laid it to rest in the forest.

Why am I such a wimp? I feel very bad for the quail. Because of my dumb cat, it lost its life. Somebody tell me I'm obsessing too much. This is what cats do. This is how the world works. This is normal. I decided that I won't let Toi out anymore. Velvet and the other cats will have to put up with him. But he escaped this morning when I came back from crosswalk duty. Right now he is out ravaging the forest creatures.

The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard will sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough and a little child will lead them. Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs will grow up together, and the lion eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will crawl over the rattlesnake dens, the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent. Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain. The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

Isaiah 11:5-7

The Message

I wish...