I thought it was time to explain the name of my blog. When I was in fifth grade, there was a bible competition at my Catholic school. Basically you studied the gospel according to Luke and took a test about the contest. I think I cracked a book once or twice and, not being a bible savant, didn't do so well on the test.
What I do remember about the episode was reading a passage (Luke 18:18-30 for those who want to play along at home), about a rich man who was asking Jesus how he could go to heaven. Basically Jesus told him to live a good life and the man said he was already doing that. Then Jesus seems to get a bit testy and tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor. The man is crestfallen because he has so much and is reluctant to part with it. So Jesus says this to everyone who is watching:
How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Well, this scared the poop out of me as a kid. A camel CAN'T go through the eye of a needle. Impossible! I knew my family was wealthy...not Rockerfeller wealthy but we certainly were better off than a lot of the kids I went to school with. I was certain I was doomed.
Then when I got a little older, I read a commentary that explained that the eye of the needle was probably a reference to a certain town gate that was very low and narrow
and thus called "The Eye of the Needle" because pack animals had to be unloaded to pass through and even then they had to crouch. I liked the idea that simplicity and humility could be the point of the story and not that rich people automatically go to hell.
So the crouching camel image has become something of a symbol for me for simplicity, serenity, and spirituality.
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