"God breathed the 'the breath of life' into man, and caused him to become a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
"And all living things upon the earth perished--birds, domestic and wildanimals, and reptiles and all mankind----everything that breathed and livedupon dry land."(Genesis 7:21-22).
Please read Psalms 104 and you will find where God provides for animals and their ensoulment.
MIND, WILL, EMOTION----- EQUAL SOUL AND SPIRIT
This month I have a saddness that hangs over me. I love my family and my friends and basically, I truly do love all mankind, perhaps not liking what all mankind does, but I still love. I especially love animals, never feeling at anytime that I do not like them, I truly only love them.
This column is to honor my sweet Remington, my animal, cat companion of almost 13 years. He would have been 13 on June 6th, 2008. He came into my life when I remarried, he became my husband Smokey and my fur child,so to speak. Remington was more like a dog than a cat, he talked to us, he fetched, he put his little paw out to us when he wanted attention. Remingtondid the mail with us,(liked to chase strips of paper around the tabel) read the paper with us,(liked to follic and sneak under the pages and then paw) and (I could see it in their bonding) loved my granddaughter. Remington tolerated my daughter's dog whenshe came to visit. Remington traveled a lot with us to Nashville, TN to visit our son.
Remington was special, he gave a lot of love. He held my "paw" and if I would squeeze his little paw, he would curl his little paw about my finger and squeeze. These actions really meant a lot to me when I was resting after my breast cancer radiation treatments two summers ago.
I know some of you reading this column probably do not like cats, perhaps,even dogs, that is your loss.
God gave us these precious blessings to give us unconitional love, and weoften abuse that gift. So if you are one of those, I pray for your soul.
My dear Dr. Dan who takes such good care of all animals brought to him is a very special man. His wife, his staff, and Dr. Dan are just "good people."God pours gifts of healing upon Dr. Dan and Dr. Dan uses those gifts to give healing and compassion to all the animals he treats and the families of those animals. I pray in Thanksgiving for Dr. Dan, please join in praising God for him.
I believe that Remington has a soul because he had emotion, I could see it in his eyes and hear it in voice, and see it in his body language.
I believe that Remington had will, he, of course, as a cat, often did wha the wanted. Sometimes I wanted him to sit with me, sometimes he would just sit across the room and give me "eye kisses," which means he would slowlyopen and close his eyes. That always said to me, "I love you, but I want to sit here, now."
I believe that Remington had a mind, why else would he fetch when he wanted to, sleep in this chair this night, sleep on my pillow above my head, this night, sleep in the family room, another night. He decided when he wanted to sleep, where he wanted to sleep, when he wanted to eat, when he wanted to drink, when he wanted to come when called, or when he wanted to play fetch.Yes, he had a mind.
I know Remington had a body, given to him by God. His body was a temple just as mine is to God.
All of the above, will, mind, body, says soul and soul says Spirit. Spirit says Nephesh Chayah, Hebrew for 'living soul.'
Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 "For men and animals both breathe the same air, and both die. So mankind has no real advantage over the beasts. All toone place-the dust from which they came to which they must return. For who can prove that the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward into dust?"
The Hebrew word for "spirit," "ruach," is in connection with animals as well as with we humans. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says: "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
So whether you agree with me, please take this week to reflect on how you treat animals, how you treat our environment, how you treat yourself and how you treat each other.
Dear God, I thank you for the blessing of having Remington in my life forthese past years and I graciously accept the gift, even through the tears in my eyes, of taking my precious Remington home to You, without his suffering,and in peace. I praise Your Holy Name. I ask, Dear God. that You give direction to all mankind to please honor Your gifts of animals and all nature with respect for all. In Jesus name I ask these petitions. Amen.
