Lessons from Littlest

My cat, Littlest, is pretty creative. She sleeps with me most nights, and finds a new way to wake me up each morning. Now, you'd think I'd be thrilled to have such a cute, sweet, fuzzy, cuddly, creative personal alarm clock, right? Theoretically, I would. Except that she doesn't wake me up when I want to be awoken...she wakes me up whenever she feels I should feed her her breakfast, which can be anytime after 3am. One night, she accomplished this by knocking over my guitar case...the resulting CRASH was enough to wake me up, even in the total darkness which only comes at, well, 3am! Another night she sat at my (closed) bedroom door, meowing, repeatedly, waiting for me to open the door. Had it been a little later...or a little bit lighter...I might have opened the door a lot sooner. As it was, it was about 4:30, and I was rather slow getting out of bed. Then there was the first morning she slept with me, when I awoke to her hissing at her reflection in my mirror...Today she let me sleep in until almost 6am, which was nice! But today's method of waking involved her attacking my toes...clawing, pouncing, chewing....ouch. I'm going to have THOSE scars for awhile...She can be sweet, though, when she wants to be. One day she woke me up by licking my nose!

But honestly, the thing I really love about Littlest is that she is so happy and excited about EVERYTHING! She loves to play, and it's so great to watch her apparent joy and excitement when she plays...even when she plays with the same toys, over and over, she's still totally thrilled. The exact same ball of red yarn...she plays with it every day, sometimes for hours at a time! Or something as simple as a little ping-pong ball...she loves batting it around and chasing after it. Littlest doesn't need brand new, exciting toys to play with to make her happy -- she is completely content with what she's got. She doesn't lose interest in things after a day or so; instead, every morning she wakes up and plays with her toys with the same enthusiasm as the day before. I guess you could even say she's thankful for what she's got!

Littlest teaches us an excellent lesson about materialism. Especially around this time of year, we as a society are consumed with the need to make wishlists -- I want this, I want that, more more more more more more!!!!!! Every store does their very best to convince you you just can't live without this item...same with TV commericials -- "Think how easy your life will be if you just buy this product!" We've become people obsessed with owning things and stuff and gadgets and gizmos, because we are, in a sense, convinced that will make us happy. Does it?

Did you ever get exactly what you wanted for Christmas, that one thing that you knew you just had to have? Sure, it was probably exciting for a day or two; maybe a little longer. But was that it? Did that one thing make you so happy that you were totally content with your life, or did you still want more, more more, bigger and better things, etc, etc, etc? Years later, did that original item, the one you thought would mean the world to you, still make you happy?

Check out what the Bible says about materialism:
"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." -- 1 Tim. 6:6-11

Nothing destroys the attitude of thankfulness like materialism. If we are always consumed by a need for more, how can we be grateful for what we've got? Indeed, by convincing ourselves that we need this new item or that new toy, it's almost like saying that everything we have already isn't good enough.

A ping-pong ball and a ball of red yarn -- Littlest is, in her own way, thankful for these two simple toys. They make her happy; they bring her joy, over and over again! She doesn't need new, improved, special, amazing toys -- she's thrilled with what she's got.

So, as we all celebrate Thankgiving this year, just keep in mind all the little things to be thankful for. Sure, we're all grateful for our family and friends and food and our houses, and that's important, obviously! But find little things to be grateful for, too -- clean socks, tissues, an umbrella when it's pouring down rain....

And as we go into Christmas, keep it up -- keep looking for the little things to be thankful for. If we can find joy in the little things that we've already got, we won't be consumed by the need for more. If we're content with what we already have, we won't ruin the Christmas season with materialism and "stuff". And when you're not obsessed with getting, it really frees up your mind to concentrate on what Christmas is really about -- Jesus. The ultimate gift of love. Now THERE'S something that can make you truly happy!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!