Belle Gucci - Eleanor Shepherd

We have been empty nesters since 1999 when our daughter took the dog to live with her, when we were returning to France for a second assignment there. Now that we have moved into our retirement home, we decided we needed a little company, so on Saturday we went to the SPCA in search of an orphan.
The moment we walked into the room where the dogs were kept, I spotted him and he spotted me. It was love at first sight. His name was Shadow and I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to get acquainted. But, first the paperwork. We had to complete all of the forms so that we could be entrusted with this animal. I answered the questions to the best of my ability, but my confidence wavered as the adoption agent raised questions about some of my responses. In one case, I had checked the wrong box and gave the opposite answer to what I meant. In another case I had misunderstood the question. I began to perspire. This was obviously not going to be as easy as I thought.
Shadow was a golden retriever mix. He was a dog that needed space and I knew that. One of the questions on the form was what kind of a dwelling we lived in. I indicated that it was a condominium. There was no place for me to write that, this condominium was larger than the house where we lived in France for four years with our very active Brittany spaniel mixed dog. The other requirement for Shadow was access to a fenced yard. There seemed to be some possible negotiation about this one.
Do we live on the first floor of the condo? No, we are on the second floor. There is one flight of stairs to the outside door. We are not next to a park, although we are on the lakeshore and there is plenty of parkland there. No, it is not right at our door, we have to cross the street. The adoption agent tried to be helpful. She asked at least three people in charge if it was possible for us to have Shadow, in spite of us not meeting the exact criteria. There was no way they were going to release him to us. Despite my sadness, I knew they wanted to do the right thing for the dog. They were thinking of his needs and if you really love someone that is what you do, you put their needs before your own. I had to let Shadow go.
But we still wanted a pet. Maybe a cat is more realistic for a condo. We wandered around the cat room looking at them. After completing the forms, we were able to have a visit with a few of them. The first was a feisty little male kitten. He was not the least bit interested in cuddling. I suspected that life with him could become a battle of the wills. This was not the one.
The next was a female named Rose, who was reluctant to come out of her cage. She accepted some cuddling, but wanted to keep her distance, just the same. The chemistry was not working with her either.
Then we saw a kitten that seemed full of fun. Her antics amused us as she threw her ball into her water dish, just before coming out of her cage. She seemed like a good candidate.
We were trying to decide whether we should go through with this, when I spotted another cat. She was the only one in a stack of cages that were separate from all the rest. The place was a little overcrowded and I guess this was the only place they had left. She was a year old and had just returned from foster care. She peered out at me, as if to say, “Please, take me home?”
I asked if we could have a visit with her. As soon as we held her, we knew she was the one. She was both affectionate and independent and not too much of either, so we signed the adoption papers and she became ours. We could not bring her home until Monday, as she had to be sterilized. That was one of the clauses in the adoption agreement that we signed. The name she had been assigned was Gucci but we wanted her to be called Belle, because we think she is beautiful. So Belle Gucci has joined our lives and I am sure will teach us much and bring us joy as we make our home together.

Reflections on Life as a Journey

Life is a journey. This is not news. Yet to apply it to the walk of faith seems to come as a surprise to each generation.

As we sat around our living room with the College and Career group looking at the Scriptures and trying to understand how they relate to our lives today, Julie spoke up. “I never realized it before. Our Christian life is a journey with God. That’s cool!”

I recalled the day many years earlier, when I had come to that understanding. It seemed to free me to grow. It meant that I did not need to have all the answers as a Christian, but I could discover them as I journeyed.

The journey has been identified with the faith pilgrimage throughout history. The classic example in our English culture is John Bunyan’s allegory written from his prison cell, Pilgrim’s Progress.

The book speaks of the pilgrimage of Christian and his companions as they journey to the Celestial City. My assumption, perhaps from my evangelical background, has been that the journey begins when one embraces the Faith. Now I think differently.

My shift in thinking relates to the image of God that has become stronger for me on my journey. I now see God as an all-knowing yet all-loving parent standing with arms outstretched, ready to embrace all who will come. His invitation extends to all humanity.

When we are born there is within us the desire to turn towards that embrace. That for me is the meaning of the words of wisdom in Ecclesiastes that speak of God placing eternity in our hearts. The journey begins when life begins, but it may sometimes follow a seemingly incomprehensible route. There are occasions when it seems that this route is heading far from the waiting loving embrace. Yet those times can herald the U-turn of a wandering soul.

We do not travel the journey alone. There are many companions on our route. At times we choose those companions and at other times they seem to be messengers sent to encourage us on our way.

Wherever we are on our life journey when we choose to embrace the Faith, we are gifted with a companion. This Companion, who has been called The Comforter accompanies us continually to our final destination. Our accompaniment includes not only a sense of security but also the hope and encouragement we need as we travel. Without this divine companionship we would never make it home to the loving embrace that awaits us.

The Antidote to Fault Finding

 When I was young, my mother used to tell me not to always be fault finding. It was a habit that was difficult to break. It was always easier for me to see what was wrong, than what was right. There was always room for improvement. The trouble was, not only did I see the ways what others did needed correction, I also became a perfectionist, so that I was never satisfied with what I did either. The danger of being a perpetual faultfinder is that it leaves no room for appreciation. It is based on dissatisfaction.

My years at university encouraged the faultfinding. We learned to think critically, which meant that nothing could be accepted without first examining all of the assumptions why such a thing could be postulated. It would be heresy to accept something at face value. This is not in itself unwise. However, when it begins to permeate every area of life, one can become a chronic faultfinder.

What is the antidote? In exercises of critical thinking, it could be to make a sincere effort to find those things that are positive or with which we can agree before we begin to look for what must be changed or challenged in a theory or a position.

In relationships it is to find what is admirable and attractive about a person before pouncing on their weaknesses or failures.

The ability to take this positive approach seems much more difficult and unnatural to us than a negative, questioning or critical approach. We find that we have to train ourselves to think that way.

One of the useful methods of developing a more positive attitude occurred to me several years ago. I discovered that if, every morning, I sat down and filled one page of my journal with those things for which I could be grateful that day, the scales began to fall off my eyes, and I could see much that was good and positive in the world around me. I could be freed from the chains of fault finding.

That is not to say that I go around looking at the world through rose coloured glasses. I am aware that there is much that I could focus on that is far less than pleasing or of fine quality. There are experiences that can take us so far into the darkness, that the light at the end of the tunnel seems no larger than a pinprick. Such was the case when our son became a quadriplegic as a result of his car careening out of control on black ice.

As we rushed to his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit, although I threw my gratitude journal into the suitcase, I doubted that I would be able to fill it during the days after his accident. I wondered if I would ever feel gratitude again.

Yet miraculously, each morning as I arose and opened my journal, with a few minutes of reflection there came to mind subjects about which I could frame my gratitude. Sometimes it was individuals who were there for us. Their kind deeds served to encourage us to hang on. Sometimes it was unexpected signs that God was with us in these dark days, like running into the surgeon as I left the chapel, where I had been praying while he did the tracheotomy. His comment that he just completed the most perfect tracheotomy of his medical career, assured me that those prayers had been heard and answered.

Critical thinking has its place, within the framework of a life that is based on gratitude. All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. In an imperfect world we can keep our equilibrium by trusting in One who surrounds us with reasons to give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!