Today’s scripture reading is Isaiah 11:1-10.
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. -Isaiah 11:6
My sixth-grade math teacher, Mr. Garland Moore, had all sorts of folksy sayings. One of them was, “I’m going to break those hounds from sucking eggs.” What exactly did that have to do with math? Or with anything else, for that matter? At the time, I had absolutely no idea.
Since then, I’ve learned that the expression was Mr. Moore’s way of saying that his goal was to break his students from their bad habits, whether the bad habits were related to math or to their manners.
Apparently, on some farms, chickens roam wherever they want to roam and consequently lay eggs in places where the farm dogs can easily find them. Upon finding them, these dogs bite into the eggs and thoroughly enjoy the taste of the insides. Once they start biting into the eggs, they are hooked and they have a tough time stopping. The farmer, not wanting all of the eggs eaten, tries to find ways to “break the hounds” of their habit.
In our scripture lesson today, Isaiah is describing the coming of a new kingdom. He likens this ideal kingdom to animals usually viewed as threats to other animals coexisting peacefully with less threatening animals. Wolves won’t eat lambs, leopards will lie down with kids, and old farm hounds won’t suck chicken eggs.
Are there some bad habits that you need to break during this season of Lent? It is time to break some hounds from sucking eggs?
