Do You Want to be a Cat?
"Do you want to be a cat?"
"Do I want to be a cat?" I repeated, making sure I had heard correctly.
"Mmhmm." The seriousness in the olive green eyes of my five year old friend told me that I had. It wasn't the first time during babysitting that day that I had encountered the delightfulness of the child's "adult ideas"-free mind. At other points, I had just had to laugh, wishing I could be recording the words and thoughts to share with someone later, (how many times I wished Kyrie was there for me to share a look and a laugh with!) but this was different. Olive was serious and I needed to give this answer more than a chuckle.
"Well...." I thought for a moment. Olive's three year old sister now looked up from the coloring book she was working on. "No," I said slowly. "I don't think so. 'Cause if I was a cat, I would miss out on knowing alot of the wonderful people I know."
The answer was good enough for Perky who went back to coloring. Olive was fine with it, too, it seemed, for she continued candidly, "My brother says I act like a cat..." We talked for a few more minutes on that subject before moving on, but the idea got me to thinking.
I am so thankful that I am not a cat, that I am a human being, that I know that my Creator God planned for me to be a female person and nothing else. How many dear friends He has given me to enjoy! How many opportunities I have gotten to have because I can work, and think, and go, and interact! A cat, or any other animal, has a seriously limited life. They, of course, are made for man's enjoyment and benefit, but they don’t get to know some of the most enjoyable parts of my life. I appreciate the fact that our cats have (to some degree) been good at catching rodents. I enjoyed our dog that ran around, lay on the grass, barked at squirrels, or laughed his great, big, tongue-lolling grin at us. He didn't provide any huge contribution to our family, but he was fun to have around. I even liked our Beta fish which did nothing more than swim back and forth in their glass domains and eat and dazzle me with their gorgeous colors and designs. But to be a person—specifically a person who has purpose based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world!—is to know joy and peace, work and rest, pleasure and even the benefits of sorrow (since sorrow is to drive a person back to reliance on Christ). It is to have gain and loss, to meet strangers and become friends, to take advantage of family relationships in order to grow in love for each other despite quirks and personalities and talents. It is to know the highest privilege of the human life: peace with God through realizing one’s sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness, one’s right to punishment and God’s gift of forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.
Olive sparked more than she can imagine by her innocent, child-like question and I am grateful. To my Savior and Lord: I thank You for causing Olive to ask this. It is wonderful to know You, my Father! To all my friends and loved ones who mean so much to me because I am a feeling, thinking human, I have to say: I am so thankful for you--and I am so thankful that I am not a cat!
"Do I want to be a cat?" I repeated, making sure I had heard correctly.
"Mmhmm." The seriousness in the olive green eyes of my five year old friend told me that I had. It wasn't the first time during babysitting that day that I had encountered the delightfulness of the child's "adult ideas"-free mind. At other points, I had just had to laugh, wishing I could be recording the words and thoughts to share with someone later, (how many times I wished Kyrie was there for me to share a look and a laugh with!) but this was different. Olive was serious and I needed to give this answer more than a chuckle.
"Well...." I thought for a moment. Olive's three year old sister now looked up from the coloring book she was working on. "No," I said slowly. "I don't think so. 'Cause if I was a cat, I would miss out on knowing alot of the wonderful people I know."
The answer was good enough for Perky who went back to coloring. Olive was fine with it, too, it seemed, for she continued candidly, "My brother says I act like a cat..." We talked for a few more minutes on that subject before moving on, but the idea got me to thinking.
I am so thankful that I am not a cat, that I am a human being, that I know that my Creator God planned for me to be a female person and nothing else. How many dear friends He has given me to enjoy! How many opportunities I have gotten to have because I can work, and think, and go, and interact! A cat, or any other animal, has a seriously limited life. They, of course, are made for man's enjoyment and benefit, but they don’t get to know some of the most enjoyable parts of my life. I appreciate the fact that our cats have (to some degree) been good at catching rodents. I enjoyed our dog that ran around, lay on the grass, barked at squirrels, or laughed his great, big, tongue-lolling grin at us. He didn't provide any huge contribution to our family, but he was fun to have around. I even liked our Beta fish which did nothing more than swim back and forth in their glass domains and eat and dazzle me with their gorgeous colors and designs. But to be a person—specifically a person who has purpose based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world!—is to know joy and peace, work and rest, pleasure and even the benefits of sorrow (since sorrow is to drive a person back to reliance on Christ). It is to have gain and loss, to meet strangers and become friends, to take advantage of family relationships in order to grow in love for each other despite quirks and personalities and talents. It is to know the highest privilege of the human life: peace with God through realizing one’s sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness, one’s right to punishment and God’s gift of forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.
Olive sparked more than she can imagine by her innocent, child-like question and I am grateful. To my Savior and Lord: I thank You for causing Olive to ask this. It is wonderful to know You, my Father! To all my friends and loved ones who mean so much to me because I am a feeling, thinking human, I have to say: I am so thankful for you--and I am so thankful that I am not a cat!
Comments
Post a Comment