Practice Makes Perfect

I have a ten and a half month old kitten. His name is Waldo. Half the time I call him Booger, because he always has sleep in his eyes. He is a long haired tuxedo cat with a black nose with black dots on either side which makes him look like he has a mustache. He also has a puffy squirrel tail, which he proudly holds strait up in the air as he walks. He claims anything he can get his paws on & carries his trophies to the upstairs bathroom where he generally chews them to death. He can be incredibly sweet & funny, but he is also Mr. Mischief. He is also a great teacher. Every day Waldo helps me learn how to love.

Forget all the feel-good moments & all the weddings you've heard this passage read & really take a look at it.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

 Love is not some gushy, warm fuzzy feeling. Love is an action, a choice. Look at the words & the concepts here. Patience, kindness, being humble, forgiveness, selflessness, endurance. Sacrifice. Love is sacrifice. These are not things that appear out of thin air, nor are they things that can be passively learned. These are all skills that must be practiced. Having Waldo in my life is practice for other things. Waldo is the thing in my life that I sacrifice for every day. I'm single, I don't have children or a family of my own or aging parents to care for that rely on me day to day. Yes, I'm there for my friends when they need me. Yes, I love my family & help out in any way I can. However, for the most part I have no one who I am accountable to or responsible for on a day to day basis. If I want to, I can do what I want whenever I want & my money is mine to do with what I please. But this is not what I want.

I want to practice selflessness because one day I will have people who I will be directly responsible for & I want to practice loving now so I can love them better. Because of this I choose to love Waldo. I choose to spend my money giving him good food, a safe home, & excellent veterinary care instead of buying the new pair of heels that I most desperately want. I choose to love him when he kills my favorite bikini & chews my gold hoops into an unrecognizable crinkled mess. But I also have rewards. He greets me every day when I come home & makes me laugh when we play catch. Waldo teaches me that even though love has sacrifice it also has rewards. One day I will have children. I will wake up in the middle of the night to tend to them & they will probably accidentally brake some object that means the world to me. I will sacrifice my time, money, & in some cases my treasures for them but I will receive the joy of being in their lives. They will teach me to laugh in a new way & smile bigger than ever before. And when these things come to pass I will thank God that he used a mischievous little kitten to help my practice the skills involved in love to pave the way.

Waldo getting into something he shouldn't

Relaxing on his favorite spot on the couch