An Ark

Last evening we drove past the rusted framework of an oddly shaped structure with a faded sign stuck next to it declaring that Noah's ark is being rebuilt here. I have no idea when that project got started, but judging by the rate of progress they're making on it, not only did they want to rebuild the ark, apparently they also wanted to take 120 years to do it.

For some reason it got me thinking of some conversations my Mom and I had when I was a teenager.

It was a beautiful fall day, the leaves were gorgeous, the skies were bright blue, and I should have been feeling all energetic and happy the way beautiful fall days usually made me feel.

Instead I was feeling totally the opposite of happy. I was doing the ironing while Mom was doing the mending and I was still fuming about what had gone down at the member's meeting at church the day before.

She agreed with my assessment of everything, but then she said, "The church is like an ark, the members like the animals. In order for all those animals to get on the ark and live together peacefully they had to lay down their own wills, desires, and their very nature."

Then she asked me. "Which do you think had to change the most to get on that ark, the sheep or the lion?"

I found the analogy annoying, because I certainly wasn't feeling much like a sheep that day.

It's one of the talks though, that I remember most clearly and have thought about most often in various situations since then.