To Be

My cats live in the moment. Whatever they are doing, they do it with complete abandon. When they sleep, they sleep. When they hunt, they do it with such intensity that they cannot be distracted. Wrestling with their kitty housemates or fighting with strange cats, they do it with a ferocity that belies their normal laid back appearance.

I noticed last evening that the kitten was kneading my sheepskin rug. Her eyes were round, her little paws working, working, working, her look one of total absorption in what she was doing. What could I accomplish if I worked with such intensity and focus?

Cats also choose what they will be absorbed in, living fully in the present. They do not let others choose for them, but go about their lives with singleness of purpose, to live the life that they were designed to live. They do not try to be dogs or birds or even lions or tigers. They do not try to be catlike, either. They are what they are, and that is all they are. They are not people, though we have a habit of humanizing their behavior.

How different my life could be if I were to live it with such singleness of purpose. Instead, I am distracted by so many thousands of voices, telling me who I should be, what I should look like, how much I should weigh, how much and what I should eat, what I should wear and how I should wear it, what I should think about any given topic, or even how I should or should not feel. I am so exhausted by the effort to be, that I have no time to BE.

I see this in cats because I have cats, but I used to have dogs. Dogs are happy creatures, affectionate, and loyal. Nothing you can do will change their basic doggie nature. They don't worry about being dog-like. They just are.

I think that the ability to reason and choose what we will be is a burden at times. It can be frightening to face adulthood from the perspective of our teen years, and realize that not only can we choose, but that we must choose. It can be frightening also from the depths of grief, to know that I not only can choose to live a life of joy in the midst of pain, but also that I MUST make a choice. How much easier to simply let the days drift by unattended. But that also is a choice. A day comes when I will either sink permanently into despair, or I will choose to live.

I choose to live. I choose to be what God designed me to be. I will not strive to be what those around me try to make of me, what society or my church, or even my family decide I must be. I won't even strive to be what I think God wants me to be. I am because He is, and that is enough.

Reviews

[Tony Jordan]

Dogs - someone on here wrote are like prostitutes whereas cats give their love to one (paraphrasing).
I like your treatise on dogs instead.
I like the way you introduced the animal natures to allude to the speakers. well done.

[Pip]

This is absolutely spot on. So many of us feel this pressure to be a certain way, and have had it for so long we are not even aware it is there, it just exists inside us like the tides. Thanks for this.