The Lion and The Lamb

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play in the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Yesterday I took my two charges, the dogs I nanny, to the animal hospital. They were wild and fierce- blind Jack ripped apart the waiting room teddy bear and happily snapped the doctor's arm. When I returned to pick them up they were sleepy eyed from pain and drugs, with the gentle faces of lambs. It all reminded me of this favorite painting, my copy left in Iowa:



Yes, Edward Hicks painted a peaceable kingdom, but the Lion's wide-eyes are to remind us that this is a radical break with what is.

And Hicks said things like: Christendom appears clearly to me to be one of those trifling, insignificant arts, which has never been of any substantial advantage to mankind. If the Christian world was in the real spirit of Christ, I do not believe there would be such a thing as a fine painter in Christendom.