amos the churchmouse:
a view from under the pew

Editor's note: Amos is a churchmouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation.

the faith of louie

boss you remember louie
the songdog who s always
so happy and wags his big
hairy tail everywhere
question mark here

well louie has a peculiar
habit that several of us
have noticed from time
to time  i know i know
all of us in the church
pew underworld have
peculiar habits at feeding
time you were going to
say weren t you boss
another question mark

but louie s actions seem
to take on larger-than-
life significance if you
know what i mean

here s the deal
every evening at
suppertime louie used
to feed at the kitchen
table when the preacher
and his wife would sit
down to eat but apparently
one day the preacher s wife
objected - i think it was
right after louie gobbled
up half a roast that the
missus had spent half
the day cooking -

anyway somehow louie
sensed the reason for
being refused food
while the preacher s
family were enjoying
their meal together

louie s smarter than his
floppy ears and hairy
jowls look boss and
hunger is a mighty
powerful motivation
in the animal world
so louie would crawl
under the table when
the preacher s wife
wasn t looking and
then he would sit with
his nose resting on the
preacher s knee

oh it was a pitiful
sight to see boss

but the silent expectant
faith of that dog s
appeal was too much
for the preacher - and
when his wife wasn t
watching the preacher
would slip choice tender
morsels of food under
the table and into louie s
eager waiting mouth

it became the marvel of
the church pew underworld

others of us have tried to
duplicate louie s supper
table technique boss but
not always with the
same success

somehow the nose of a
centipede or a tarantula
or even a salamander
doesn t have quite the
same appeal that a big
hairy sad-eyed dog does

but of course that s not
the real point of this
tale boss

louie s nose resting
expectantly on his
master s knee is the
perfect epitome of our
reaching up to god in
faith fully anticipating
his best and knowing
wholeheartedly that he
will never ever fail

god is so good he provides
for our every need and for
our daily cheese - as we
say in our paraphrase of
the lord s prayer -
may our faith rest on him
implicitly like louie s nose
on the preacher s knee

                          amos