Laura told me a few weeks back that she wanted a cat. I laughed and said that was pretty funny. She then said, "No really, I want a cat." I again laughed. She said she was serious; she really wanted a cat. I felt for a fever and she did not have a fever. I asked her if she had been out in the sun a lot. She had been to a friend's house (where there is sun) and they had some baby kittens. Joel and Laura saw them and she decided she wanted one of them. Of course, Joel and Hannah Grace were thrilled about this turn of events. Laura was very careful not to get their hopes up without talking to me about it first to make sure there were no "cat obstacles" that we needed to confront. She is very kind that way. We never want to put the other parent in the place of being "the bad guy" in family decisions.
I'm not really a cat guy. Dogs are more my kind of pet. I agreed to a cat with stipulations; the cat does not come in the house and I'm not responsible for feeding and looking out for the cat. If the dog needs to be fed and for some reason the kids haven't done it (it's raining, they are out of town, etc.) I feed the dog. I'm the default dog guy. I am not the default cat guy. I know some of you are thinking the cat will be inside and I'll be feeding it before long. That remains to be seen. Laura has agreed that she is the default cat person in our home.
We are in the cat naming stage right now (plus the Daddy fright stage that the cat will wander off or get hurt in the first day or two). The two front-runners in the name department are Jonah and Tiger Kitty. They came up with Jonah because of the Jo for Joel and nah for Hannah. It's a combo of the two names. I thought that was pretty creative of the kids. The family we got the cat from had started calling it (we don't know if it is a boy or girl) Tiger Kitty and the kids like that pretty well. While I was proofreading the blog, Hannah Grace added Tigger to the name possibilities.
The cat and I have similar looking shoes
Settling in
I probably would not have a cat if it was just me. There is always the chance that I might like if there was a mice infestation. Since the family all wanted a cat and agreed to take care of it, there was no real reason for me to say no (I did give that some thought). Sometimes we do things to make someone else happy. It is a healthy relationship habit to do things just because it brings joy to someone else. It did make me happy to see how happy the family was with the cat this afternoon. I probably will not be happy if I find the cat inside.
Have you ever considered that Jesus did all that He did for someone else? That someone else was you and me. He had no sins to die for. He was not guilty of anything. He had an easy out; that whole legion of angels thing that was waiting in the wings. Can you imagine if they had just taken one visible fly by? That would have freaked everybody out. We are the ones that benefit from the death and resurrection of Jesus and oh, what a benefit it is. We get the opportunity of having our sins forgiven, being adopted into God's family, being immediately made a citizen of heaven, having the Holy Spirit live inside of us plus many more!! Wow, what a giving Lord we have. What an opportunity to take. We take that by repentance from sins and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We can start an eternity long love relationship with Him.
I do think the joy that Jesus has from what He gave is twofold; the pleasure of His Father and us. He died for us so He must want a relationship with us. If I died for something, it would sure mean a lot to me. There is something that we can learn from Jesus; part of the joy in relationships comes from giving ourselves away to bring others' joy. Jesus said in Mark 10:45, " For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Why not give yourself away for someone else's joy?
Giving for the abundant life
Barry
3 things I thank God for today
1. The joy of the family at getting a cat
2. Sweet friends who drive an hour to watch Hannah Grace swim at her swim meet
3. Jesus' example of giving Himself away
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