[and the lion shall rip the lamb to shreds and munch on the bones]

I've always been a sucker for animals. I just have a fascination with life itself...living, breathing creatures amaze me. Doesn't matter how ugly, smelly, or dirty they may be. Heck, I think warthogs are awesome! Even just having an animal in a room, or outside a house, or just...anywhere..completely transforms how I view a place. Take a cozy library. A fire, chushy armchairs, musty books...and then there's a cat sitting on the chair arm. Doesn't it seem much more inviting! I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Or maybe you don't like cats. ;)
[I like the idea that domesticated cats are just mini-wild cats. I sometimes envision my black cat is just a young leopard ;)]

Anyways, the other day I was watching Animal Planet during lunch. The scene was following a cheetah on her hunt for prey. My mom walked in just as the cheetah was making a run for the kill. She stared, eyes fixed to the screen muttering worriedly "oh...no way he's going to get it...stupid zebras....wait, why are they just standing there? Why aren't they running?! Run zebras, run! No! No! Turn it off! No! I didn't comply. I was like "mom, chill, stop over reacting!" I kind of laughed at her sqeamishness. "This is the circle of life! I know it isn't pretty..but come on, they've gotta eat too."
I was never really sqeamish or grossed out about things like that. I mean, when I was ten, I had pictures of big cats plastered all over my room. Lions with red-stained mouths, the works. I loved the big dopes. It's tragical for the prey, but I admired the strength of the predators and just accepted the fact that life and loss come together. But how my mom responded kind of shocked me. She said
"No, it's not the circle of life, it's awful! How can you watch that and be okay with it? Don't you know this isn't how things were meant to be? That's sin, Mary Claire, that's the result of sin!"

Watching the cheetah tear chunks of flesh from the still-alive hindquarters of the Zebra now made me feel incredibly horrible, as I realized my mom was entirely right. This wasn't how things were intended...I finally felt the extreme horror of realizing how sin had permeated even into the instincts of beasts. It didn't feel like the circle of life to me anymore, but more like a
R-rated movie as I saw the rest of the Zebra herd flee in fear as their comrade was eaten alive.

This isn't how things were supposed to be.

"And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so"

- Genesis 1:30

Animals can't help it, and aren't malicious slaughtering creatures. Yet humankind put the thirst for blood in their nature. I have such shame. :P Now I see it for the sick, twisted evil that it is. Creatures eaten by fellow creatures. All beasts are cursed by us, and they don't even have any hope for salvation.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

- Isaiah 6-9