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A-G, thanks for your views, I concur (though I wouldn't necessarily put myself in such lofty status as with your pastor(s), Plato, betty boop, St. Francis, logos, and Billy Graham --and of course the Pope. ;-). I condur.

I'm going to a Conservative Conference all day today and I'm already "late" but then again, I'm paying my own way --which makes me think of pinging Hank Kerchief. Hope it isn't just "meet, eat, and retreat," as I've heard the phrase used.

Clearly, one of the reasons God has given us pets is to teach us about how He and we fallen creatures do relate (and in some cases, should relate). I had an encounter with my mother's poodle last night that reminds me of your complaint about egocentric will. She wanted some of my ice cream. I wanted to give her a spoonful, but demanded she bring me her dish (a tiny plastic dish and she knew what I was talking about). I'd even toss it for emphasis and she could hardly resist jumping over to it, but she laid it down right after picking it up and continued to beg, "No, I don't want to play with the dish, I want some ice cream!"

This continuted for quite a little while and I even got on the floor with her and tried whatever I might to get her to pick up the dish and carry it over with me to where I was sitting. I eventually swatted her in the fanny lightly with the featherweight dish. At this she immediately growled a familial little growl and jumped up to the couch and tried to clearly express to me, "NO, NO, NO! IT'S NOT THE DISH I WANT, IT'S THE ICE CREAM LESS THAN A FOOT AWAY FROM THE NOSE I'M POINTING AT IT. PLEASE UNDERSTAND!"

I may eventually train Amber to pick up her dish and bring it to me. If so, may we all be so fortunate as her. Jesus said (phrs.) "It is my meat and drink to do the will of the Father." Thank you for emphasizing this.

Thank you so much for your post and for raising the metaphor of the companion animals! It was a very engaging suggestion and had me pondering the possibilities at some length.

For the purposes of keeping it simple I considered the four most common companion animals: dogs, cats, birds and fish – to see if they reveal any of the patterns of faith we see from time to time.

It seems to me that fish basically want to be fed but otherwise left alone. As a diver, I know that fish do have personalities which are much easier to engage face to face and hand to fin. But the personalities I’ve seen have more to do with curiosity and aggressiveness or passivity. In my experience, they’re not thinkers in any practical sense. (Exceptions with porpoises duly noted.)

Birds, especially parrots, can be trained to repeat some rather complex words and phrases and do interesting tricks for treats. Some have very cute personalities and they do develop an attachment to people (for good or ill.) However, in my experience, they’re not big thinkers, I doubt they understand most of what they say and little of what I say to them.

Cats are a whole ‘nother deal. They seem to understand what I say and sense my mood. But of all the companion animals I’ve owned, they are absolutely the most willful. They will come to me only when it is in their own self-interest to do so. Of course, when they do, they are a joy to cuddle. They are very, very difficult to train (at least for me.)

In my experience, most dogs have great humility. You can ignore them – even be mean to them – but they’ll still come back, wagging tail and looking for approval. If they’ve misbehaved, they’ll literally crawl whimpering for forgiveness. They enjoy being included in drives around time and such. And they are much easier to train because they seem to understand not only the body language but the spoken commands.

So, do I see any parallels to the attitude of believers? Based on my experience with these companion animals, you betcha! And thank you for pointing it out!

I hope your conference is a great success. Hugs!!!