Hugging a Porcupine

Had it not been Valentine’s Day, the day of love and hugs, when I was hiking the mountainous Cochise Stronghold Trail, I probably wouldn’t have thought of it. High on a mountain ridge I veered off trail to get to the escarpment’s edge to take in the view of the valley below. Intent on the vista instead of where I was walking, I found myself suddenly, exclaiming, “That hurt!” as I jerked my foot back. I had run into the sharp spines of what I believe was some species of spiny agave. It was then I remembered something I used to say to our children when they were young: Sometimes, if one of them were in ill-humor or had just been disciplined and I tried to express love to them by hugging them, they would pull-back, scrunch their head down against their shoulders, and grimace with a pouting, stuck-out bottom lip. It was evident they didn’t want to be hugged. It was evident they wanted no part of an expression of love. I would then say to them, “It is hard to hug a porcupine.” Their attitude and rejecting body language were to them what quills are to a porcupine. Quills keep porcupines from being the prey of predators. Shrinking back, grimacing, and spouting contemptuous words keep others from being hugged by those who attempt to do so. When told they matter to others, some people remonstrate with protests that no one loves them or tries to show they do. They do not realize that others do attempt to show them love but they respond by pulling away, striking out, and reacting with caustic words. As a porcupine, they stick and stab whoever tries to hug them. Paradoxically, they pine for the very love and affectionate demonstration that they repel when efforts are made to express that love and affection to them. Sad. If only they would allow themselves to be loved, and, literally and metaphorically, hugged, they would receive the love they crave and need. In the end, we all are porcupines when it comes to God. God attempts to show His love and affection to us, and we so often respond with rebellion or bitterness or doubt or pride or, well you get the point, and so does God. We repel, draw back from, and reject His show of love; but that never stops God from demonstrating that love to us. Rather, it never stopped, I should say, God from demonstrating His love to us. Jesus, God in the flesh, a flesh with which He could hug, one day opened His arms wide to embrace all people with love, grace, and salvation. And He got stuck. With the thorns of a mock crown on His head and the sharp spikes through His hands and feet. Porcupine or no porcupine, who would reject love like that?

Hugging a Porcupine

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