Bark, Bark!!

My brother's dog, Red Dog, getting in the Christmas spirit

I just got back in from walking Dia, who is now six months old and who manages to stir up every dog in the neighborhood when we walk by.  A little way down the street, a little terrier discovered us from his perch in the picture window of his home.  I'm sure his owners were delighted as he barked and clawed at the window, trying to get to us.
 

Dia also began to bark for all she was worth, but oddly, not at the terrier.  Her focus was at the the house directly across the street where a three-foot angel holding a candle graced their picture window.  She barked and barked at that angel, as the terrier barked and barked at her, and I literally had to drag her away to continue our walk.
 

I dreaded the rest of our mile-long path, knowing how many other homes decorated for Christmas, but I worried needlessly.  We passed the large wire penguin and the Santa train without incident.  Dia was not the least bit interested in the Charlie Brown lighted cutout, the reindeer pulling the sleigh, or even the inflatable chimney with Santa moving up and down.  Yawn.  It was the angel--the same one that stopped her in her tracks on the same walk yesterday.
 

You might remember that Dia's name means "God" in Irish Gaelic.  I named her that because she is God With Skin On for me, and today she served that function again.  This is a sad Christmas for me.  Several of those I love dearly are gravely ill, the world situation seems more hopeless by the day, and even in this season we got an e-mail at the MassBible office from a Rev. Sung Kim that read:
 

Your stance on the Bible not being the inerrant literal Word of God is
heresy.  So are women ministers.  I pray that you seek God and obey His
Word because as of now, your group has no business calling itself a "Bible
Society."

Merry Christmas to you, too, bud.  Humph.
 

God knows that when I get in a funk, subtelty has absolutely no effect.  It takes not one, but two wildly barking dogs, all focused on an angel in a window, to wake me up.  Bark, bark!  It's not about you!  Bark, bark!  There are angels!  Bark, bark!  The story begins in miracle and ends in hope!  Bark, bark, bark!!!
 

Dia is now asleep under my desk, having done her job.  My outward circumstances are still the same, but my heart has been reminded of angels and the way that God shows up in unexpected ways to oppressed people who believe he is a heretic.  Jesus is born, despite the odds, and eventually the world re-arranged time itself to mark the day.
 

So move over, Grief.  Sit in a corner, Despair.  Take a hike, mean people who send nasty e-mails.  Bark, bark, bark!!  I'm making room in my inn for the Child.