3.25.2009

God's Pets

Today's car conversation:

"Mom, can we get a pet?" Madeline asked. "I like dogs. Especially cute little puppies," she said most likely in reference to the sweet, little, sleeping puppy my friend shared with her church class today.

"Well, we can't get one right now but maybe one day we can get a pet," I said. "You guys have to learn to do your chores and be responsible for yourselves before we can get a pet though."

"Yeah, but not dogs or cats," Aidan said. "Dogs make too much of a mess and cats do too much meowing and I don't like meowing much."

"Aidan, you can keep the dog in your room and Lily and I can have the cat in our room," Madeline said excitedly, apparently not listening to a thing Aidan had to say.

"Maybe we can have a tiger," Lily joined in, mimicking her sister's enthusiasm.

"A tiger isn't a pet, Lily," Aidan told her, knowingly but then went on to ask,"Mom, do some people have tigers as pets?"

"Well, there are some silly and, um, foolish people in the world who think tigers will stay cute and cuddly and so they get tigers as babies and then realize later they are really wild animals," I explained.

"Yeah, then they get bit, right mom?" Aidan said.

"Yes, sometimes people get bit if they try to keep wild animals as pets," I agreed.

"Why are there bunnies out in the wild?" Madeline asked.

"Well, that's just the way God did things I suppose. There are lots of different kinds of animals in the wild," I replied.

"Mom, does God have pets?" Madeline asked.

"Madeline, God can't have pets because God isn't real," Aidan said.

"Aidan, God is very real," I corrected. "But I don't think God has pets." (Although it's quite possible that God thinks of us humans as pets....I mean, there is an awful lot of biblical talk about obedience...are there human schools for that and if so, do they give out those Certificates of Completion regardless of whether you "sit" and "stay" or not?)

Aidan reeled me back in by going on, "I know He is REAL, Mom. I meant God doesn't have a body on earth and so God can't have pets...." There was a very slight moment of silence (I just make reference to it so that I can look back and know that at one moment in time, it existed....)

"But maybe all the animals on earth are like God's pets," Aidan went on.

At which point Lily chimed back in: "Yeah, God has a pet llama!"

***

Here's a quick follow up on my last blog about shoe shopping with the kids: My mother-in-law wrote me a little email after reading about our painstaking ordeal, I mean, lovely shoe shopping trip, suggesting I take the kids back to get Madeline another pair of shoes to better match the dress....And to think, all this time I thought my mother-in-law liked me, or at least, didn't want to torture me! Perhaps she'll want to give us a tiger too, knowing its care is in my hands! Of course, between another shoe shopping trip and a baby tiger, hmmmm.....I'll take the llama!

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