celebrating the resurrection of Christ with a season of suffering

Many thanks to Lauren Merritt of The Christian and Creation ~ Glorifying the Creator for shining a light on the unintended consequences many of our common Easter pets experience:

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9, NIV, emphasis added)

The meaning of Easter has been mostly lost in our culture, dissolved into a flurry of fluffy yellow candy, hunts for plastic eggs and the ever famous four-legged, long-eared emblem of the season.

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a tribute to Little Chickie

a heartfelt tribute to the communication capabilities of chickens, and one "Little Chickie" in particular, from Jenny Sue Hane ...

“Indeed, but are they truly incomprehensible?  In my experience communication is a matter of patience, imagination.  I would like to believe that these are qualities that we have in sufficient measure.” (Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Episode 102 “Darmok”)

It may surprise you to learn that the thing I associate most strongly with that quote is a chicken.

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the good good pig

If you're looking for an enjoyable read, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one than The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood, by Sy Montgomery (Ballantine '06).  I picked it up off a bookstore's featured shelf a few years ago, and could hardly put it down over the following days.

The Good Good Pig does in fact tell the story of a fine pig, dubbed Christopher Hogwood after the conductor and musicologist by the same name.  Christopher was born a sickly and tiny runt, and was spared an early death by a kind farmer who couldn't bring himself to do the deed: "George would take him out to the manure pile, intending to dispatch him quickly with a blow to the head from his shovel.  But George would watch the little piglet-his soulful eyes, his big floppy ears, his admirable will to live-and just couldn't do it" (pg. 9).

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the friendly beasts

I was vacuuming one of the children's rooms at church last weekend and noticed on one of the tables a copy of The Animals' Christmas Eve, a Little Golden Book which charmingly weaves together the stories of modern-day farm animals with those who surrounded Jesus at His birth:

In the barn on Christmas Eve,
After all the people leave,
The animals, in voices low,
Remember Christmas long ago ...

Written by Gale Wiersum, The Animals' Christmas Eve was originally published in 1977 (Western Publishing, see cover).  The original illustrations, though a bit dated and occasionally somewhat Anglo-Saxon, are quaintly attractive and remind me of Sunday School illustrations of a generation or two back.  An updated version of the book was released a few years ago, with more contemporary illustrations as you can see here. 

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Noah's Ark

When we were visiting my parents back in May, a book in my mom's children's collection grabbed my attention.  It was Noah's Ark, a mostly wordless telling of the well-known event recorded in Genesis 6-9, by Dutch-born American children's book author and illustrator Peter Spier, for which he was awared the prestigious Caldecott Medal. 

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loving Charlotte

I'm grateful to share the following very personal reflection on Charlotte's Web from my friend and former English Comp. professor at Moody Bible Institute, Jamie Janosz.  Jamie continues to teach in the Communications department at Moody and serve as Associate Dean, and she blogs on a variety of heartfelt themes at Media and the Middle-School Mom ...

There is a photo of my brother and I in our family album.  I am about 8 years old - outfitted in a turquoise polka dot hand-sewn smock with long triangular sleeves.  My brother, Tim, standing next to me, is 5 years old and wearing a matching vest (both sewn by our industrious mother).

We are at a petting zoo - and the reason my face is contorted in a hideous cry is because a goat (who I was innocently trying to feed) decided to try to eat me - or at least the sleeve of my smock.  My brother Tim, meanwhile, has a huge smile on his face and is surrounded by about five goats, feeding them peacefully one at a time.

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animals, birds and other creatures

I'm excited to finally get our series on favorite children's books started!  We've highlighted some excellent books for children in the past, including a recent article from Karen Swallow Prior over at Flourish ("Ask the Animals") which featured the classic Black Beauty and The Black Stallion.  We have a few reviews from friends lined up which I can't wait to share, and it's not too late to submit one of your own if you're interested!

But I thought I'd break the ice by mentioning an animal book which was a favorite as a child, and which I've come to love to read with my own toddler son Jadon.  Inside my somewhat worn copy of A Comic and Curious Collection of Animals, Birds and Other Creatures by Bobbie Craig is an inscription which reads "To: Ben, From: Mommy & Daddy - Christmas 1981."  I know they must have read it to me a million times, my mom especially, as much of an animal lover as they said I was from very early on.

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the empathy connection

A few years ago, during my first happy trip out to Wake Up Weekend in Grand Rapids, I made several new friends including Bee Friedlander, managing director of Animals & Society Institute which "advances the status of animals in public policy, and promotes the study of human-animal relationships," including the connection human and animal violence.  Bee introduced me to an important booklet called The Empathy Connection, which I've wanted to highlight just about ever since.  

Originally published by Doris Day Animal Foundation (now part of HSUS), it's currently available as a free PDF courtesy of The Linkage Project, which shines a light on the "link between animal cruelty and family violence."  And while The Empathy Connection does touch on this tragic relationship, it's primary message is far from doom and gloom, and in fact is very positive and encouraging. 

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a compassionate Easter

Last Easter, Stephanie Feldstein, lead blogger for Change.org's Animals Cause and a gifted and prolific one at that, asked if I'd be interested in contributing a few reflections as a Christian and an animal advocate on some Easter traditions and their implications for animals, along the same lines as the post we've shared from Lauren Merritt on common Easter pets.  I was very grateful to be able to share a few thoughts on the holiday and animal compassion from a faithful perspective.

As believers who recognize the true origin and meaning of Easter, is it possible we can amend some of our traditions to better reflect the new life Christ made possible for all creation by His death and resurrection?  Here's part of what I wrote for Stephanie's post "Celebrate Easter for the Animals":

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gentle nudges

I'm sorry for the long gap in posts.  A week of planned vacation turned into two more unplanned, as I've been working through some issues related to not one sparrow's administrative structure and sustainability.  I'll share more soon, but would appreciate your prayer as I continue to try to piece together the way forward.  In the meantime, here's some good-natured animal humor which has put a smile on my face in recent days.

The first video, "Tortoise Helps Tortoise," reminds me how I'm grateful for those who have helped nudge me back on my feet, especially my family and one friend in particular these past few weeks (via LOLcats):

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