Holly cat has a course of antibiotics and some painkiller medicine to take following the extraction of four teeth.  So, how to get the pill into the cat!

When I was in Manchester, the vet to whom I took the cat who then deigned to share my home gave me what seems to be the only successful method.  Crush up the pill(s) and mix with a little Primula cheese spread (other brands are available), or if liquid splash it onto the cheese spread and mix in.  If your cat likes cheese spread (my previous cat did) feed it to them on a spoon.  If your cat is not keen on cheese spread (Holly for example) smear the mixutre around her/his mouth or onto a front paw.  Either way the cat will lick up the cheese and with it the medicine.  Simples.

Or you can try the hard way...

PS what does the feline tooth fairy bring?!

Five full weeks into Lent and, to my amazement I have not (yet) tired of undertaking a daily biblcal reflection.  Today's readings seem very upbeat, rich in promises...

Psalm 119:9-16
Isaiah 44:1-8
Acts 2:14-24

The excerpt from Acts 2 is part of the Pentecost story... I find it a tad odd having post resurrection stuff during Lent, sure, chronologically we are 'this side of Calvary' but liturgically we are 'that side' of it.  I get irritated when during Lent people race too far ahead, are too eager to focus on the happy and celebratory rather than entering the struggle and darkness it requires.  However, to be fair, the Acts portion, read out of its literal context, is a reflection on ancient prophecy being fulfilled, and works as part of a package of hope-filled promises.

It's the Isaiah that drew my attention though...

The LORD says, "Listen now, Israel, my servant, my chosen people, the descendants of Jacob.  I am the LORD who created you; from the time you were born, I have helped you. Do not be afraid; you are my servant, my chosen people whom I love.  I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants.  They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water.   One by one, people will say, 'I am the LORD's.' They will come to join the people of Israel. They each will mark the name of the LORD on their arms and call themselves one of God's people."

The LORD, who rules and protects Israel, the LORD Almighty, has this to say: "I am the first, the last, the only God; there is no other god but me. Could anyone else have done what I did? Who could have predicted all that would happen from the very beginning to the end of time?   Do not be afraid, my people! You know that from ancient times until now I have predicted all that would happen, and you are my witnesses. Is there any other god? Is there some powerful god I never heard of ?"

Isaiah 44: 1 - 8 GNB

A quick look at other translations suggests some fairly heavy interpretation going on in the GNB, but that's the one I happened to read so that's the one I'll go with.  Here's the bit that struck me...

One by one, people will say, 'I am the LORD's.' They will come to join the people of Israel.

What a lovely image.  It has a sense of gentleness about it.  Nothing rushed or forced, no sense of 'if you died tonight where would you spend eternity', no guilt-tripping.  Just a steady and certain transformation as the Spirit of God waters the hidden seed of faith.  There is, pretty much, a feeling of inevitability, that takes away any anxiety, any urgency to proselytise all and sundry.  One by one people will come to know and name themselves as God's people... that's a lovely promise, and one to which I want to add my 'amen'.

I like that, LORD,

The one by one

Unrushed inevitability

I like the idea that your Spirit

Like water in a dry land

Brings to life -

For the first time, or the umpteenth time -

The seed of faith that lies deep within

Each

And every

One.

I like the fact that the seed

Dead and buried in dry earth

Holds potential

Released by your activity

To blossom and grow

Delighting the eye with beauty

Thrilling the senses with fragrance

Spreading shelter and shade for the smallest

I like that in the midst of struggle

In the darkest moments of despair

That stream still flows

If reduced to a trickle

I like that one day

Even the tiniest stream

Becomes a river

And every river

Becomes part of the ocean...

The great sea of your love

In which we swim

For eternity.

... her slave will do the housework!

Holly is at the vet having a beauty treatment under GA, poor kitten... teeth cleaned, nails cut and fur dematted... sounds pretty much like all my worst nightmares rolled into one!

So, whilst she is out, and out for the count, I have washed her igloo, as one does, and am busy tidying all the places she objects to me tidying... a busy day off all round!

This is a bit rambling, even by my standards.  Not sure what, if any, sense it makes! 

Today our readings are:

Psalm 119:9-16
Isaiah 43:8-13
2 Corinthians 3:4-11

The line that strikes me today comes from the 2 Corinthians reading, and it is a well known part-verse, 'the letter kills but the spirit gives life'.

This is one of those verses that we all think we understand, which probably means that we don't.  We all wrestle with the balance between legalism and licentiouness; between the minutiae of some aspect of OT prohibition and the intent of the sweep of scripture; between the contextual and the eternal; between societal norms and spiritual demands.

I have to confess to a degree of bewilderment yesterday when I heard on the news that the C of E and the RC felt that the UK government had a duty to help them maintain their cathedrals... cathedrals in which they foot-stampingly refuse to be told what to do.  It felt a bit like wanting a cake and eating it, like misunderstanding that choices have consequences and the why should HM government squander tax-payers money to maintain buildings which might well be lovely, but in which some tax-payers will be marginalised or excluded.  Hmmm.  Not entirely sure how this connects but it feels as if it ought to.

In my electronic version of the Bible on this computer, I have a couple of ancient commentaries.  One of them says the 'letter' means the OT and the 'spirit' means the Gospel; which feels like a move towards the Marcionite heresy of rejecting the OT.  Whilst some in our churches would happily join Marcion on this, I don't think that's helpful.  Another of the free commentaries suggests that the Law shows up that which is death-dealing whilst the Holy Spirit brings life.  That seems a bit better.  But it doesn't help us with those aspects we deem to be contextual or even over-ridden by later writings (e.g. food laws and hygiene laws).  Perhaps the simplest reading is the best - nit-picking legalism is destructive, timless prinicples are creative.  No rocket science here, this is the model used all the time in 'secular' understandings.  But not always in our churches where dogmatic legalism and dogmatic antinomianism are equally unhealthy.

Not sure I've got any further forward, just need to keep examining my own heart, my own motives, to see where either death-dealing pedantic legalism, or equally death-dealing antinomianism is growing.

God's Spirit lives to set us free - walk, walk in the light

To join our hearts in unity - walk, walk in the light...

Were it so, Lord, were it so

Were we able to see

Were we able to hear

Were we able to open ourselves

To your Spirit

Your Intent

Your Will

Your Way...

Teach me to love your Law

As Jesus loves it

Teach me to undertsand your Law

As Christ understands it

Teach me to live your Law

As your Spirit directs it

For your Law is

Love not hate

Life not death

Hope not despair

Freedom not chains

Teach we your ways, oh Lord, show me your paths...