The other morning as I was eating breakfast, one of our two cats (the one on the left in picture above) was happily playing in our kitchen. I thought he was playing with one of his toy mice that is filled with catnip. However, upon further review, I noticed he was actually playing with a crumpled up piece of notebook paper. His mice must have been under our refrigerator...again! (This reminded me of when my kids were younger. They actually seemed to have more fun with the boxes at Christmas time than they did with the actual gifts!)Believe it or not, I immediately thought of the apostle Paul. While in prison he wrote an amazing letter to the Philippians in which he said:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
My cat could have pouted when he couldn't find a mouse to play with. However, he made the best of the situation and, from where I was sitting, he was having a blast.
How often do we, when faced with the same circumstances as my cat (our paycheck isn't what we would like, we are looking for work, our spouse isn't treating us as well, etc...), pout and complain and make ourselves miserable? How often do we miss golden opportunities because of our bad attitude?
In the above verse, Paul says to rejoice always, not just when things are going great. Hard to do, but very freeing when we can get our arms around this! At least it has been for me the few times I have gotten this.
6 comments:
wonderful example! i love the visual of the cat...my own cat used to play with aluminum foil balls... i still find them around my home even though my cat has been gone for quite a few months. she had a blast playing with anything she could find...knocking a pen off the table and batting it around, etc. she was very imaginative... and that is how i make an attempt to live--with my eyes wide open and looking for any bit of God's movement or design in my day. i've discovered that gratitude is absolutely essential to my relationship with God and my view of life!
Thanks Sharilyn! You are right, an attitude of gratitude is essential. I just heard from a speaker that he felt that having gratitude is the greatest characteristic in those who live a full Christian life. I would tend to agree.
Great post. It is so important for us to apply God's word. Isn't it amazing that we are continuously suprised by the results when we follow the instructions in scripture.
Thanks Lisa Faye! It is amazing what happens when we apply God's word! You would think after seeing it over and over again that it would become more natural for us to apply it. I guess in a way it does, but I sure wish I would "get with the program" faster!
I wonder if I could write a blog post about what I learn from my cat breaking absolutely everything valuable in my house (from spilling water on my laptop to busting the table and making a special lamp fall to the ground). Yesterday I came home to her standing in a pile of curtains she had pulled to the ground. Hmmmm. I'll have to think about this. ( :
Thanks for the post!
Michelle, I am so sorry to hear about that! That would be a tough one to rejoice about! I'm sure months or year down the road it will be a great story and I'm sure that God will use it somehow. Hang in there!
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