Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Sigh. For months, Ice-T has been sittin' his little kitty butt on an arm of our couch, perched where he could peer out a window at the birdies that would light in the branches of what looked like trees.

T would stalk said birdies and get all tensed up and sometimes seem ready to pounce.

But they weren't trees. They were WEEDS that I had let get so totally out of control in a flower bed that they were taller than me, and actually pushing up against the eaves.

Saturday, I cut 'em all down and dug them up. Even as I was doing so, Ice-T was freaking out so that Dr. ER opened the window and told me to pause and talk to him to settle him down.

Now, T sits and stares forlornly out the window, this important corner of his world devastated, with a look of shock, sorrow and bewilderment on his kitty face.

And of course, I feel terrible.

I'll be getting T a bird bath or something for Christmas -- something for the birdies to congregate on to keep him entertained.

I've said a time or two that this cat gas taught me more about God's grace than I've ever read in any book. It's filling in some of the gaps, the parental lessons I missed because Bird was 9 before her mama and I found each other. I don't see how anyone who has been a parent can be as judgmental as some people are!

The learnin' keeps on. Grace came into my life on little cat's feet about 18 months ago -- and the dang critter has been walkin' all over my heart ever since. A big ol' boy like me, smitten by a kitten!

"Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love."

-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov."

--ER