Thankful Like Fred

Peace family, I want to tell you about a kitten that I am fostering named Fred, who is teaching me about trust and thankfulness.

I have four different kittens that I am taking care of right now, but Fred is a very special kitten. He’s not particularly striking in his appearance, he’s not especially graceful (unlike his namesake, Fred Astaire,) and he isn’t especially adventurous or a skilled climber like some of the others. However, whenever I feed my kittens, if I pet them while I am feeding them, the other kittens often growl and some even put their paws out as though to block anyone else from the food, but never Fred. While Fred eats, no matter what I do to him, he just purrs. While the other kittens are very possessive of their food and seem to be afraid that there won’t be enough, Fred is not worried about the amount of food, or whether someone else is getting more than him. He is just happy, he trusts me, he is thankful, and he keeps plugging away.

Peace family, I’m not going to suddenly run out of cat food, and God is not going to run out of blessings, but don’t we often act like those other growly kittens, instead of like Fred?

Let’s get honest. Don’t we tend to be unkind to others whom we think have more blessings than we do? Don’t we naturally seem to fear that because someone else is successful, attractive, intelligent or blessed in some other way, that there will be less for us? Don’t we often live in fear that God will suddenly stop taking care of us? That doesn’t make any sense. Our God is the master of the universe, and everything belongs to him. His supplies are limitless. He gives us good things that we don’t even deserve, and in spite of the fact that we fail to trust him all of the time.

I will tell you, I love all of the kittens, but it frustrates and annoys me when those others kittens growl at me while I try to pet them. Peace family, let’s be like Fred. Let’s trust God, not only his intentions, but his bounty, and let’s be thankful and kind to others while we do. I think that going through life purring instead of growling will benefit everyone, ourselves included! If a little kitten can live that way, surely we can, too!