Predators

 

The cat left us a present. Another dead mole on the garden grass. It’s awful the way cats have such a killer instinct, not because they need the prey as food, just because they can kill. The mole is a beautiful creature. Don showed it to Flick and Greg. We all admired the mole’s beauty, and felt sad at his violent demise. Then Don took it round the back, to deposit it as a sort of sacrifice to the red kites which soar overhead daily.

Flick had an idea. She rushed into the kitchen, excited to write a thank-you note to Don, as if from the red kite. She dashed out with Doug, who hid the dead mole while she placed the note. Awhile later, as she followed Don outside to ‘check whether or not the red kite has taken the mole’, she winked at us.

Yesterday was a heavy day as news broke of Cosby’s release from prison on a technicality, having shown no remorse at the lives he ruined through his many sexual assaults, sixty who were willing to testify, probably others who kept quiet. Like a cat, he preyed on his victims and discarded them. Survivors of such attacks abandoned to face the cruelty of life, robbed of self-esteem, molested and discarded.

A dark day for women. So much injustice in the world, in all sorts of guises. So what does the Lord require of us? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. May the Lord inspire us to speak out, to lobby, to reach out and to pray, that those who feel their lives have been stolen and their violation has been deemed worthless, may know the truth that the core value of who they are is that they are beloved by the Lord, the God of creation and the God of justice, who will make everything right one day.

I set out to raise a smile, recounting yesterday’s episode with Flick’s joy at setting up a practical joke on her grandfather. I didn’t see any connection to yesterday’s set-back to women’s rights, until I started to write.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus. Restore your creation to the way you made it to be. Let justice flow like a river. Help us to treat one another with respect and love, giving those of every race, religion, and gender the dignity and care you give them.