Loss and Salvation

Last Friday morning we made an unexpected trip to the vet. The night before I noticed that our always petite cat, Snitch, was looking more emaciated than petite and wasn't acting like herself - aloof as that may have been. There was a 2 hour delay that morning, so the kids and I went together to the vet. In the back of my mind was the reality of the situation. I knew, I think, what this morning would bring, but I still wasn't prepared for it.

When Dr. Megan came back with the lab results and gave us a grim prognosis, the reality hit us all. My daughter - the smartest almost ten year old I know - understood all too easily what we were going to have to do. All three of us cried together as we sat together in the exam room saying goodbye to our 5.5 year old prissy little furball.

Several times now I've wondered at the absurdity of saying goodbye to someone(thing) for the absolute last time. I've done it with ill people I have encountered in ministry. Words failed me as I handed Snitch over to Dr. Brooks. It was an entirely surreal moment to know she would soon be gone. She wasn't going to sit on the back of our couch anymore. She wasn't going to walk above our heads in bed while she looked for Sydney again. She wasn't going to carry the little, stuffed, pink guinea pig around in her mouth while she whined for the girl who wasn't home.

The reality of the situation only started to sink in as we drove home; Sydney crying, Cole quiet, me on the edge of tears, Laurel on her way to meet us at home.
As I went on to Facebook for the ever popular request-by-status for prayers and announcement of our loss, I encountered a friend's timely status about the loss of beloved pets.

in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,1 not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. (2 Corinthians 5:19 NRSV)

The next day I saw a link to the church sign argument over whether there are pets in heaven - including the claim that pets have no soul.

In this time of pain - watching my daughter struggle - I was reminded of a God who acts not as we understand, but as God chooses to act.

I could join the argument to try to define what God will do, or I could accept that God is going to do what we are unable to fully comprehend in this life. God claimed and reconciled the whole world - not just what we want God to claim and reconcile.

I choose not to worry about what will happen in the afterlife in regards to Snitch (or Jinx and Dribble who preceded her). I choose to trust that God is caring for all of us - the whole world. I choose to watch for that love in the face of my daughter as she learns to live with only one cat in the house. I choose to remember that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That's all I need to know about what comes later.