We have three cats. One is 10 years old. She is white, sheds like crazy, and is a bit neurotic. Another cat is the white cat's grown up kitten who is 9 years old (do the math...he is only one year younger than her). He is brown and black, weighs 27 pounds (yes...I said 27 lbs...not a misprint), and thinks he is a large dog. Our other cat is a petite fluffy, grey cat that my oldest daughter rescued when it was just a few days old. When she brought it home from the vet that she was working at in high school, it looked like a baby mouse...no hair, so tiny. My daughter bottle fed that kitten, woke up at all hours of the night to take care of it, and kept it warm in a make shift little box (and she was in high school at the time). This cat loves to show her love for us!
I am sure I am doing this wrong, but we always have food in our cat dish. When it is empty our white cat gets aggitated. She paces throughout the house. She chases our little grey cat. Our big cat meows without ceasing! We know if she is acting weird the food or water dish are empty. Late last night I realized I forgot to get cat food at the store and their bowl went empty. I decided I would run up to the store in the morning. Too bad cats can't understand our human reasoning. At 5 am this morning the white cat and the big cat decided they did not want to wait. They meowed. They moved the bowl along the kitchen floor. They jumped on my bed. I shut my door. They scratched at my door. They were relentless. They were panicking. I gave in to the pressure and at 7:30 am I was at the store in my sweats buying cat food. Now...they are resting after all of the stress!
As I sat down to do my devotions this morning, I thought of two scenarios as I reflected on my cats. One scenario reflected those who really do not have anything left in their bowl and do not know how they are going to fill it. The other is of people who don't have anything in their bowl (or so it appears to them to be empty), have a way to refill it or fill it to overflowing, but it is never full enough for them.
Both are poor.
Our empty bowl. We think it always has to be full for us to feel safe or content. When it is full we think we can rest. When it is empty we panic. Our focus becomes on how we are going to fill that bowl up.
Those who really do not know how they are going to find anything to fill up their bowl...water or food or health care or safety...their day is spent on finding whatever they can to try to put something in it. They walk hours for water. They work days just to get enough money to feed one meal to their family. They walk miles just to wait in line for hours to get health care if they can.
Then their are some who have everything they need but want more. Even though their bowl is full, to them it appears to be empty. They want the next best thing, more of what they already have, things, food, clothes, stuff. Their bowl is really overflowing...full...but the things that are filling it make the bowl look empty. Do we panic when we think we don't have enough but really we have all we need. Do we worry. Do we spend hours trying to figure out how we are going to get our next bowl full? When in reality we have all we need and others don't know if they will ever have what they REALLY need.
I told (yes, I talked to them...I really wanted to yell at them but I held back) my cats if they could just understand me, they would know I was going to go to the store and get them a bag of food. If they could only hear me they would know they were taken care of. They didn't have to worry. But they are cats...they didn't know.
But we are humans, we should know.
"Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to e content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everyting through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4: 11-14 NLT)
I am human...I should know, but I always seem to want more. I want more clothes when I really have enough. We (my family) have nothing to eat when really our cupboards, fridge and shelves are full. I need another one of "those" to add to my collection because really one or 5o just won't do. It's on sale, I should get it now. I need. I want. I don't have enough. What if I run out? I am so guilty.
My desire is to be content. Not just with the "things" I have but the place I am in my life and all that God has planned for me. I don't need to add my own things, my own plans because God has aready filled my bowl and will keep it full every day. He is enough.
What if we looked at what we already have and see our bowl is full. That is is enough to feed us. What if we decide to instead of overfilling our bowls, we fill someone elses bowl that can't do it for themselves right now.
There are two books right now that I am reading that may give you some ideas on how full our bowls are and what we can do to help others who really in need.
7: an Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker (www.jenhatmaker.com)
A Place at the Table by Chris Seay (www.ChrisSeay.net)
And if you would like to join a read-a-long for the book 7 check out www.marlataviano.com/category/7-read-along/
Have a great day!
Blessings,
Teresa
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