Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Bullies (08/09/04)
TITLE: Baby is a Bully! By darlene hight 08/10/04 |
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND |
We first got our cat, affectionately renamed, ‘Baby’, a little over a year ago. Her official name is ‘Woody’. My grandson named her that because she looks like the cars with wood panels on them. He likes those cars.
She came to us as a little ball of yellow fur. Within a week, she had won the heart of everyone including my son in law. My son in law, Joe, dislikes cats or so he says. He, however, loves spunk. Baby won him over as he watched her stalk our dog ‘Casey’. In sharp contrast to our spunky cat, we have a scaredy dog. Casey is old now. She is an old scaredy dog. When she was young, she was a young scaredy dog. Joe found “the stalking Casey game” to be highly entertaining and it earned Baby a place of honor as the only acceptable cat.
Baby got her nickname from me. She is part mighty hunter and part baby. She is afraid to be left out all night. She’s been rescued from numerous trees and for awhile the ladder was permanently placed at the side of the house for retrieving Baby from the roof. All the while crooning “Baby, what are you doing up there again?”
Up until now, Baby’s catches have been limited to birds, mice and an occasional ground squirrel. All of these, she brings ceremonially to the front porch as unwelcome gifts from the mighty hunter.
As I scooped her up from the front the front yard, I gave her a firm scolding; “I draw the line at baby bunnies! You leave it alone!” I tossed her in the house.
We rescued three bunnies that week! Two of them died. The one remaining we nursed until it was big enough to turn loose. It was a constant struggle to keep Baby away as we cared for the bunny. She is a Bully! As a matter of fact, she was the determining factor in the decision to release the bunny back to the wild. No amount of discipline would dissuade her from her target. In the end, the only logical decision was to release the bunny.
Of course, the question should be asked, “Why did I believe that I could teach a cat not to hunt?” I suppose it is no different than trying to make someone who isn’t a believer in Christ behave under the same moral code as those who are Christians. Especially, when we know that it is God who does that transforming work in peoples’ lives? We do well to remember who we are and who we used to be. Many of us were bullies or worse.
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.NIV