One of our South Carolina friends reminded us that August 3-8 is Hummingbird Week in Mecklinburg County, N.C.  So that’s where our hummingbirds are! Two or three have been around all summer, but not the whole tribe. Carole faithfully cooks for them and keeps lunch fresh.

We ran out of regular bird food. I thought all those birds came to visit because they liked us. Apparently not. We’re down to a yard full of sparrows, a bald Cardinal, a tail-less squirrel and an opossum.

In his book, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, Joel Salatin asks,

“Is life fundamentally biological or mechanical?”

We better get that answer right!

“Let’s look at the word glory as it pertains to specialness, whether the thing is living or non-living. When we say ‘the glory of God,’ what does that mean? Moses want to see God’s glory. When God’s glory left Israel, what did that mean?

“Glory means the distinctiveness of something, the specificity and uniqueness. That’s the common thread throughout all the (biblical) uses of “glory.”

  “…if the chief end of man is to show forth God’s glory, then our lives should honor God…. Notice how many times the Scripture uses the word glory for things other than God, showing a deep respect and honor for the uniqueness of created beings—and things. The point is that the sum and substance of our lives should point toward the Godness of God. And He wants us to understand that how we extend that respect and honor to his creation indicates our level of honoring His specialness.” (Page 19)

Maybe I better drop this caveat in here:

“To the greater Christian community, however, a phrase like pigness of pigs conjures up notions of animal worship and environmental flakes. It’s the kind of statement you’d expect from vegans and animal rights whackos. But I would argue that our view toward animals is a direct manifestation of our view toward each other and to God” (Salatin—page 25).

The bald-headed Cardinal has been around this whole season. At first, I thought it was molting, but if so, the top feathers forgot to grow in new. Somewhere, someone said a Cardinals head feathers are its crowning glory. It’s hard to tell if that bird feels like it has lost its glory. That squirrel climbs trees and has learned how to balance without a tail. I’m unable to speak about his/her self-esteem.

“You’re my glory, Lord, and the lifter of my head” (Psalm 3). God has deposited His glory in us—the image of uniqueness and distinction.

The story of Temple Grandin. Ph.D. alerted me to seeing “glory” in each living thing and respecting that uniqueness even in slaughtering. Salatin says, “This is not about making animals into people.”

“And God said, LET US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God….” Genesis 1:26-27

I think that image is seen in humans as uniqueness, specialness, distinctiveness. Since God is not physical, we can’t say that we got “God’s nose.” Amy Grant sings that she “Got my Father’s Eyes,” and that may be close to truth. Scripture says of God–He will not share His glory. Another use of glory, but He can’t and He doesn’t want want you to either.  Or to trade for pot of stew.

When God is dismissed as absent, a myth or incapable also dismisses all He stands for and for all authority. That dilutes the value of persons and the result is burning of Bibles, the mass abortion of babies and disregard for personal and physical rights. There are consequences when a nation abandons Yahweh. As said of Israel and several tribes in the Old Testament, they lost their glory.

The current philosophical battles—2020 Chaos—is a battle about and the results of answering Joel Salatin’s first question: Is life fundamentally biological or mechanical? The street battles and fighting the pandemic is about biological vs. mechanical. He says,

“Viewing life as mechanical, like industrial farming does, cheapens it, which in turn cheapens death. Is it any wonder that our culture is wrestling with increased violence among humans through…and a cheap food policy, which is actually a cheap life policy?”

“Price is definitely not the number one criterion: glory—does this food honor life’s distinctiveness?—is the number one criterion. After that’s been met, then be frugal.” (Page 28)

Seeing uniqueness, specialness, distinctiveness in each living thing and certainly in each person changes things. Seeing the value of each as an individual instead of value only in the “collective,” demands they be treated with respect. Uniqueness or distinctiveness are never a reason or excuse for misbehavior or lawlessness. The presence of glory in us raises the need for redemption. It is for the uniqueness of nations that Jesus said and says, “…go and make disciples of nations…” (Matthew 28).

Oh, the glory of Your presence!

There is a growing community of people trying to eat “right”. This pandemic is pushing more and more into home schooling, gardening and acreage farming. I hope the Green Deal extreme hollering, extortion, hyperbole and turning America into something other than what is her glory, will stimulate us to calculate our stewardship of this land.  Soil & Immunity.

We heard David Sinclair, Ph.D—author and longevity researcher at Harvard say, “I prefer death to an inconsequential life.” Some read the lines “…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as “life, liberty and pursuit of significance.” Seems to me, that need for consequence or significance is the indwelling glory being awakened. That is not possible in the mechanistic life. It is part of what Jesus alluded to when He said, “abundant.”

You will benefit by reading, considering and discussing The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, Joel Salatin, (Faith Words-Hachette Book Group, 2016).

©2020 D. Dean Benton