{"id":13345,"date":"2020-11-06T09:24:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/?p=13345"},"modified":"2020-11-06T09:24:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:24:41","slug":"7-takes-the-blame-the-cat-and-the-disappointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2020\/11\/06\/7-takes-the-blame-the-cat-and-the-disappointment\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Takes: The Blame, The Cat, and The Disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cat Gloria (also called GloriaBill) has taken to coming into my bed around 4 am and arranging herself around my head and nose and mouth while I\u2019m sleeping so that when I wake up, I\u2019m always sure I have, during the night, contracted the Rona. But then eventually I remove all the fluff from my eyes and nose and mouth and discover that I am basically ok. When I finally do drag myself to fuller consciousness, she sits on the bookshelf and circumspectly pushes all the things I have there for my own comfort (toothpick, thyroid pills, pen, books) on to the floor one by one, chirping in a pleasant and friendly way. If I seem more incoherent than usual, don\u2019t blame the election, blame the cat.<\/p>\n

Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s one of the most important ways of coping in life (think of it as self-care)\u2014being able to assign blame. If you know who\u2019s at fault, you can deal. But if you don\u2019t know, that\u2019s so disappointing.<\/p>\n

Three<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For me, this week in particular, I really feel that God was to blame. God\u2014who could give us a party and a good time\u2014keeps taking nice things away from people I like (including myself). And the thing that\u2019s so wretched about it is that\u2014because he knows everything\u2014he particularly knows the impactfulness (at some point I\u2019ve got to stop using this word because it will have merged over from joke into full-blown ordinary usage) of the taking away. If he knows you perfectly, and he does, then he will know precisely what it is that the taking away accomplished, in every kind of horrifying detail. It\u2019s not like when I throw away something that looks torn and destroyed only to discover it was the treasured possession of one of my offspring, how was I to know? On the contrary, God does<\/em> know what will be the sorrow and pain of that person.<\/p>\n

Four<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get that one is supposed to find that a comfort\u2014God knows\u2013but that is the kicker, he knows and doesn\u2019t do anything. \u2018Lord,\u2019 you might say aggrievedly, \u2018if you had been here, my someone or something wouldn\u2019t have died, least of all me, who am now also dying from grief.\u2019 Looking in from the outside, one wonders if this doesn\u2019t count as sadism. Looking at it from the inside too, the word \u201ccruelty\u201d hovers not so subtly in the air.<\/p>\n

Five<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chief consolation, I suppose, of the Christian as opposed to the wandering person of the world who has no faith and no hope is that God is not in the business of ever saying anything like \u2018Be Quiet\u2019 to the disappointed and dying. God is not totalitarian, though he is the ruler of the world. He is not Jack from Twitter<\/a>, rushing around to make sure everyone is saying the things he approves of. He doesn\u2019t have to play God because he is God, and is not anxious or worried about the kinds of things we might say and feel. You are allowed to say to God, \u201cIf YOU HAD BEEN HERE\u201d and his response is not to cast you into hell for wrong-think, but to stand by your grave and pull you out, in the myriad and sundry ways that he does that\u2014literally, metaphorically, emotionally, spiritually, eternally, bodily\u2026all of them.<\/p>\n

Six<\/strong><\/p>\n

I suppose that\u2019s why the gospel is so dangerous. If you are already in a grave, you really don\u2019t have anything to lose. You can go after other people who are dying without any overwhelming fear. You can just say whatever it is. You can say it to God, who rescues you, and then you can say it to other people. No amount of censorship can really quiet the curious realization that God\u2014who knows everything, as I said\u2014has already gone into the depths of the thing and come back out.<\/p>\n

Seven<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a horrible line that I happened upon in the Bible this morning, \u201cBefore I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.\u201d And, \u201cIt is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.\u201d You know what, I\u2019m not going to read any more psalms today. I\u2019m going to eat chocolate and read a novel. #selfcare #thanksGod #wheresmypartyandagoodtime<\/p>\n

Go check out more takes<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One The cat Gloria (also called GloriaBill) has taken to coming into my bed around 4 am and arranging herself around my head and nose and mouth while I\u2019m sleeping so that when I wake up, I\u2019m always sure I have, during the night, contracted the Rona. But then eventually I remove all the fluff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2373,"featured_media":11928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-13345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-demotivations-with-anne","tag-jens-7-quick-takes"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Takes: The Blame, The Cat, and The Disappointment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One The cat Gloria (also called GloriaBill) has taken to coming into my bed around 4 am and arranging herself around my head and nose and mouth while I\u2019m\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2020\/11\/06\/7-takes-the-blame-the-cat-and-the-disappointment\/\" \/>\n<meta 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