He cradled the cat in both arms. She was the swirled colors of autumn, eyes now closed, head resting on his shoulder. She rose and fell gently with his breath.

"This is how, one day, I'd like to die," he said. "Held just like this in God's arms."

I could not say who looked more content, the man or the cat. You will die like that, I thought, for why would you die any differently than you have lived? He knew that he was held, exactly so, exactly now, by God. Indeed, his joy in holding the cat was in no small part because it provided for him a living metaphor of that great truth–at this moment he lay curled and drowsy, trusting and at peace, in God's arms.

Text and image © 2010 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.