Everybody Wants to Be...a Cat?

by Emily Howard, Director of Communications

A facebook friend of mine posted yesterday about a foster kitty she is tempted to adopt. The reason (besides the fact that he is a cat and therefore naturally adorable)? He has six extra toes! So unique!

Our family has two cats. Ninety five percent of the things they do is cute (I started to say “everything” but had to make an exception for barfing hairballs). Every day I can be heard uttering phrases like:

“Berlioz has been sleeping in that position for three hours! So sweet.”

“Look at his big belly swinging back and forth when he runs! Adorable!”

“Toulouse picked up his food bowl and turned it upside down in front of me because he is hungry. What a smart boy!”

(Yes, our kitties have french names. See: Disney’s The Aristocats).

And then, in more reflective moments, I think: what would my opinion of a person be with these same characteristics? Sleeping all day? Being angry and demanding (and hangry)? A fat belly? Six extra toes??

As humans, it is easy, and seemingly our natural default, to be critical of ourselves and others. I often tell people that comparison is the thief of joy, and it is one of the most consistently true statements I know. We are all so very different—in our physical capabilities, our mental health, our situations in life. What is normal or easy to you is absolutely not for someone else. And this is how God made us! Fearfully and wonderfully, as we read in scripture. 

The way we think about ourselves and others matters. Then, the way those thoughts make us feel about ourselves and others matters. And finally, the way those feelings make us act matters maybe most of all.

Instead, how about we see ourselves as God sees us? In John 10:10 Jesus states, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I  have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” When someone disappoints you or you disappoint yourself because expectations have not been met, instead of criticizing or becoming angry, perhaps use the language of a pet owner to their beloved cat or a heavenly father to a beloved child: love, comfort, and grace, grace, grace.