There is no room in love for fear.

Well-formed love banishes fear.

1 John 4:18 [The Message]

I have no idea how the above photo was taken.  There could only have been a few seconds to get the shot.  There's always the possibility that it is a Photoshopped composite, but I'd like to think that someone actually got these ducklings to hug this kitten.  Talk about loving your enemy!  The ducklings should have an innate fear of anything with teeth and claws.  If this were a full-grown cat, the photo session would not be happening!! 

When ever I go to the Richmond Metro Zoo, my thoughts always turn to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve walked without deep ditches, high fences and plexiglass boundaries - able to reach out, to touch and be touched by all of the animals in the garden.  I picture in my mind Adam walking with a huge lion padding along side, or Eve in a meadow with her head resting on the fat, furry tummy of a grizzly bear.  Birds would alight on their shoulders - rabbits and squirrels would leap into their laps.  Then sin entered the picture, with mistrust and fear slithering close behind.  Soon the human race would be completely alienated from many of their animal companions.

One day, the specter of fear will be forever banished from this planet.  In an earth made new, all creatures will live together in peace, harmony and love.  I will have the chance to stroke the face of a magnificent lion or a mother tigress with her cub, frolic in the sunlight with fawns and foxes, run races with cheetahs and gazelles, and spend hours talking with birds of every description. I look forward to that day with eager anticipation.

Pay close attention now:

I'm creating new heavens and a new earth.

All the earlier troubles, chaos and pain are

things of the past, to be forgotten.

Look ahead with joy.

Anticipate what I'm creating...

Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,

lion and ox eat straw from the same trough...

Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill

anywhere on my holy mountain, says God.

Isaiah 65: 17-18a, 25