Colder than Poo
I have mentioned that we adopted two big puppies some time back. We have a big fenced in backyard and, when we built our deck on the back side, we built a big dog apartment under it.
These puppies were rescues from a breeder that could not sell them for whatever reason. This meant that they were not nurtured the way a normal puppy would have been. They likely were ignored and confined to a small kennel space, at best, and physically mistreated as a worse case situation. We knew this when we adopted them. What we didn’t know, and in our 39 years of marriage had never experienced, that it is even possible that puppies who had been mistreated might not come around and become friendly at more than a glacial pace after being adopted into a loving family. For example, I have seen my wife go outside and sit down on the deck with our previous big dog and comb his fur out over an hour or so to help get rid of his winter coat for spring.
Anyway, back to the puppies, as it got closer to fall, my wife realized that they may want to come into the house when the weather got cooler. She has tried numerous things to get the dogs onto the deck and into the house with only minor success (the female has come into the house for short periods but doesn’t feel comfortable; the male hasn’t even set paws in the house more than a foot or so inside the door). These dogs are part of the St. Bernard family, so they like cold weather. One of the things she’s tried is getting them to eat, one spoonful at a time, soft dog food from her hand. They seem to like that game. She’s worked very hard to entice them to eat their spoonfuls closer and closer to our back door.
Yesterday, after the sun went down, my wife put on her coat and went outside to try to entice the puppies into the house (it was 10 degrees at the time). She spent about 15 minutes without success and came in and exclaimed “it’s colder than poo outside.” Now, I couldn’t help but laugh trying to picture how to unpack that exclamation. I guess if it was fresh, it would be approximately 100 degrees which doesn’t seem cold to me. A seasoned pile would be the same temperature as the outside so, at that time, was about 10 degrees. This sounds cold but isn’t emphasized by using the descriptor.
“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back? For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it? But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!” - Job 11:7-12 ESV
“Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.” - Ezekiel 8:2-5 ESV
“This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.’ For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’” - Matthew 13:13-15 ESV
God made us to use what I call flowery visual images to help us learn. My wife exclaiming that it was colder than shit was just her way of emphasizing that, in her assessment, it was really cold outside. As I remember that Jesus used parables to teach both then and now, I realize that God made us to be more receptive to flowery visual images.
