Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) ~ Self-sacrifice

"Love one another deeply, from the heart." - 1 Peter 1v22

"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." -  1 Peter 4v8

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” - Romans 12v9&10

Traffic in Denver has exploded.  Construction and road maintenance cannot keep up.  Furthermore, many people on the roads have recently moved here from places without snow, making the roads extra dangerous in winter.  Accidents are on the rise, as well as road rage.  

Yesterday i was driving somewhere, and i was becoming frustrated.  i kept shaking my head, raising my eyebrows, tsk-ing my tongue, even laughing out loud at the sheer insanity displayed by other cars in front of me.  i was in a hurry, and grumbling to myself wasn't helping.  At one point i found myself in a turn lane at a red light.  i was first in line.   Suddenly i was no longer facing tail-lights, but faces.  i looked across the intersection at every single face of the drivers in the oncoming cars as they passed me.  i was trapped in a moment of intimacy; confronted with unexpected beauty.  In the face of every person i saw the divine Imago Dei, the very image of God.  Astounded, i barely noticed when the green turn light came on.

i pulled into the parking lot of the place i was going and killed the engine.  i sat in my car, just thinking.  When i see traffic, i see tail-lights.  When God sees traffic, what does He see?  Doesn't He see the faces of people inside?

Far away, deep in the ocean darkness, a humble creature is scouring the coral-scape for a home.  She is particular, cautious, and determined as she seeks her hideaway.  This will be her sanctuary, and her grave.  But more importantly, it is the place where, through her death, new life will come.  For this young mother carries on her shoulders the weight of the future.  She bears it tenderly, tucked under her arms, as she sidles into her quiet cavern in the coral.  Here she cradles her young in her arms as they grow, grooming them gently as they sleep.  She blinks less and less as the days pass.  By the end of six weeks, her breathing is slow and shallow.  Yet still she caresses her young as they hang in the living darkness.  

At 8 weeks, the young mother has nearly starved to death.  Her last living act is to gaze at her children once more as they hatch.  With her final breath, she blows oxygen on their bodies.  As she exhales and dies, they inhale for the first time and are born.

This is a simple Red Octopus(1).  i know a mollusk is incapable of true love, but we can learn from her by anthropomorphizing just a bit.  And as i was stuck in traffic, i was thinking about her.  i was amazed as i reflected on the natural history of Octopus rubescens just how sub par my care for others is.

This creature, who has no backbone, is less spineless than i.  
This creature, who has no hands, has embraced her fellow-creature more lovingly than i.
This creature, whose life span is 2 years, has spent a higher percentage of her existence caring for others than i have.

i hyperbolize, of course.  But one must admit that we Homo sapiens, we ‘wise men’, have not acted wise to each other.  We mortalis are indeed fatal beings.  We don’t understand love.

Imagine, if you will, that these baby octopi hatch and gear up for war.  Imagine that they eat each other alive.  There they are, floating just above the dusty corpse of their mother, plotting the most efficient ways to exterminate each other.  Octopi H-bombs, octopi shootings, octopi road rage.

“Higher Animals”; that’s what people call us.  Yet, can we really call ourselves higher?  i don’t mean to be disingenuous.  Obviously, unlike other organisms, we have TV sets and microwaves and government and literature...But love has been given to us; we were created in love and by love and through love.  How do we then not express it?  How do we not love one another deeply, deep as the heart of the ocean?  Why do we not cover the wounds left behind by sin, with love as the salve?  What does our future hold if we do not hold fast to each other in love?  Surely we will be tossed on a rip tide of an increasingly narcissistic culture and cast away.

We cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves.  i cannot teach the world to love.  If Jesus actually came to the Earth and did what they say He did, he was a perfect example of love that was ignored by the masses.  Yet i, a broken person, can change myself by the power of Love.  And i can tell you, the next time i am tempted to get angry at a pair of tail-lights, i hope i will remember the gentle red octopus.  i hope will look on, through to the rearview mirror, and see the face of God.

"[With the same mouth] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God...My brothers, these things ought not to be so." (James 5v9&10)

(1) http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/octopus-and-kin/red-octopus