We had to say good-bye to our pet rat, Molly, about a week ago.
She had come to us in an unusual, and unexpected, way. At my work, we had rats for a couple of years, but as they died, we were having trouble replacing them, because no local pet shops sold rats anymore.
We had one rat left, and she was only a couple of months old. So the question became, what do we do with her?
One male co-worker said, "Feed her to the snakes."
Another said, "Let her go in the prairie."
I grabbed my chest, horrified. "No! I will take her home with me."
I quickly texted my husband, to make sure that was OK, and he reluctantly agreed.
Almost two years later, Molly had become a beloved pet. We spent time with her at night, letting her run around, feeding her treats, watching her share a Nylabone with Novie, giggling as she drank out of Novie's dog bowl and clicking to her and seeing her run toward us to answer our call.
Like many rats, though, she started to grow cysts. They quickly expanded, and within two weeks she could barely walk and couldn't hold her food in her little hands without tipping over. It was heart-wrenching to watch, so Nate had to put her down. Her quality of life was gone.
It was sad to clean up her area and to dismantle her cage.
To so many people, rats are gross, even domesticated rats. The typical reaction when people found out that we had a pet rat was shock, mild disgust or at least a questioning look. We knew people thought we were weird.
But to us, that gross animal was adorable. We knew her, and she loved treats, people, scratches and exploring. She was a better listener than our dog and was a pleasure to have as a pet. She just loved.
We were so much bigger than her --- she only weighed a few ounces. Yet, she trusted us completely. She would crawl into our hands when we opened her cage, because she knew that we were going to let her play and bring her goodies. She didn't care realize that she was so small and insignificant, she knew she was loved.
I think that's kind of like our relationship with God. We are flawed beings, so icky that we shouldn't be loved. We make messes. We're so small. We're truly insignificant in time.
Yet, God loves us. He cares about us. He blesses us. He picks us up, wraps his arms around us and showers us with undeserved love. He picks us to cherish, even though we don't deserve it.
We loved Molly for reasons not apparent to others. God loves us for reasons that aren't understandable.
But she was thankful for love. And we're thankful for love.
Small, insignificant and treasured. Just like a little rat.
Monday, August 20, 2018
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Take a moment to learn and be thankful for it
When political conversations come up, they often become angry, harsh and leave people with bitter tastes in their mouths.
Sometimes that is because you just can't understand why the other person would think the way he or she does. However, sometimes it is because you see a rational point in the other person's argument and don't know how to respond.
Dennis Prager segmented out Republicans versus Democrats in the argument that when conservatives find something wrong in their argument, they are happy instead of angry, because they want to fix it. I would use the example that my mother-in-law posted a meme on Facebook that said Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were in favor of 36-week abortions, which a leftist relative pointed out was a false accusation. At that point, conservatives are usually happy to take down the meme and fix it. If the opposite was the case, the expected reaction would be that leftists would instead get mad and shout back.
This is obviously a generalization on Prager's part. Not all conservatives are happy to fix mistakes, and not all leftists are angry and obnoxious about mistakes being pointed out.
I think it's better to look on this as a moral point rather than a political one. It doesn't matter what side politically you're on when you think about how you react to someone pointing out an error in your thinking.
When someone rationally says that something you thought to be true is actually incorrect, and can prove in with facts and not opinion, how do you react? Are you upset and stick to your guns, even when you realize that you are, in fact, wrong? Or are you grateful that you can now fix the error for the future.
What about when it is something you have done? When you make a mistake at work, do you own up to it and try to fix it for the future or do you get mad and try to blame what happened on circumstances or something else?
I think it's important that, as hard as it is, we all take responsibility for our beliefs, our actions, our words. When we are legitimately wrong, it's important that we are grateful to find out our faults so we can fix them and not be obstinate in our wrong-doing or wrong-believing.
If we all were a little more open to realizing that we are human and capable of wrong, our pride wouldn't get so much in the way. We could make ourselves and the world around us better if we took moments to learn instead of moments to get mad.
Sometimes that is because you just can't understand why the other person would think the way he or she does. However, sometimes it is because you see a rational point in the other person's argument and don't know how to respond.
Dennis Prager segmented out Republicans versus Democrats in the argument that when conservatives find something wrong in their argument, they are happy instead of angry, because they want to fix it. I would use the example that my mother-in-law posted a meme on Facebook that said Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were in favor of 36-week abortions, which a leftist relative pointed out was a false accusation. At that point, conservatives are usually happy to take down the meme and fix it. If the opposite was the case, the expected reaction would be that leftists would instead get mad and shout back.
This is obviously a generalization on Prager's part. Not all conservatives are happy to fix mistakes, and not all leftists are angry and obnoxious about mistakes being pointed out.
I think it's better to look on this as a moral point rather than a political one. It doesn't matter what side politically you're on when you think about how you react to someone pointing out an error in your thinking.
When someone rationally says that something you thought to be true is actually incorrect, and can prove in with facts and not opinion, how do you react? Are you upset and stick to your guns, even when you realize that you are, in fact, wrong? Or are you grateful that you can now fix the error for the future.
What about when it is something you have done? When you make a mistake at work, do you own up to it and try to fix it for the future or do you get mad and try to blame what happened on circumstances or something else?
I think it's important that, as hard as it is, we all take responsibility for our beliefs, our actions, our words. When we are legitimately wrong, it's important that we are grateful to find out our faults so we can fix them and not be obstinate in our wrong-doing or wrong-believing.
If we all were a little more open to realizing that we are human and capable of wrong, our pride wouldn't get so much in the way. We could make ourselves and the world around us better if we took moments to learn instead of moments to get mad.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
What do you think about?
What do you think about when there's nothing to think about?
This question came up as a part of a discussion during our church small group a few weeks ago, and the "Sunday School" answer was supposed to be God/Jesus.
When you're bored, when you're relaxed, when you're rocking in a chair on the porch or sitting around a fire --- what do you think about? Are you praising God for how awesome he is? Are you contemplating how can you make a difference in someone's life? Are you thinking about how blessed we are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again to beat death?
I doubt it.
I started contemplating the question. What do I think about when there's nothing to think about? I think about my husband. I think about my grocery list and what meals I can make next. I think about the to-do list at home. If conditions are right, usually when sitting around a fire at night, looking at the stars, I do think about how small I am and how big God is and I praise him for caring about me, even as such a small speck in the history of time and space. But for the most part, what I'm thinking about when there's nothing to think about is not about God.
Out of the fulness of the heart, the mouth speaks. I would also say, where your heart is, where your priorities are, that's where your thoughts trail to.
So, although it's not a bad thing that my mind tends to wander to my to-do list and my meal preparations, it's not necessarily where my priorities should be.
I have thought a lot about my shortcomings lately, and I have decided that I should stop trying to fix myself and fall more in love with God, and hopefully, out of the fullness of the heart my mouth will begin to speak. Hopefully, the closer to God we all become, the more we think on him, on good things, on truth, on holiness, on love. The more we fall in love with God, the more our minds will also speak where our hearts are.
This question came up as a part of a discussion during our church small group a few weeks ago, and the "Sunday School" answer was supposed to be God/Jesus.
When you're bored, when you're relaxed, when you're rocking in a chair on the porch or sitting around a fire --- what do you think about? Are you praising God for how awesome he is? Are you contemplating how can you make a difference in someone's life? Are you thinking about how blessed we are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again to beat death?
I doubt it.
I started contemplating the question. What do I think about when there's nothing to think about? I think about my husband. I think about my grocery list and what meals I can make next. I think about the to-do list at home. If conditions are right, usually when sitting around a fire at night, looking at the stars, I do think about how small I am and how big God is and I praise him for caring about me, even as such a small speck in the history of time and space. But for the most part, what I'm thinking about when there's nothing to think about is not about God.
Out of the fulness of the heart, the mouth speaks. I would also say, where your heart is, where your priorities are, that's where your thoughts trail to.
So, although it's not a bad thing that my mind tends to wander to my to-do list and my meal preparations, it's not necessarily where my priorities should be.
I have thought a lot about my shortcomings lately, and I have decided that I should stop trying to fix myself and fall more in love with God, and hopefully, out of the fullness of the heart my mouth will begin to speak. Hopefully, the closer to God we all become, the more we think on him, on good things, on truth, on holiness, on love. The more we fall in love with God, the more our minds will also speak where our hearts are.
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