Hairball

Fireball.
No, hairball.

Nothing assures one of their fabulous life like a 2:30 a.m. wake up call of the senior cat puking. The melodious sounds that lead up to the actual puking are something I wish I could record and use as a smoke alarm because I am instantly awake, the adrenalin pumping.

There she is.  Olive.  The Little Darling. 

At approximately eighteen years of age, Olive is bound to have some health issues that are least of all annoying and most of all somewhat destructive (we will not discuss my basement).  Olive has never been the cat that charmed anyone.  If anything, she is the epitome of why people don't like cats.  But she's been here since she was dumped off over seventeen years ago.

As life bumps along for each of us, it's inevitable that our personal journey and challenges are going to be least of all an inconvenience and most of all a major upset for those around us.  Some people seem to enjoy disrupting the lives of those around them, but most do not wish to share their burdens, not wishing to bother those around us with our cares.

Yet that is what we are supposed to do.

Jesus would never have told us to give him our burdens if he didn't want to lighten our load.  Sometimes he sends other people to do that.  And how can those around us who wish to help do so if we are unaware of the need? 

What about the reverse situation?  What if it is someone else's issue that is getting under our skin?  Something that we can do nothing to alleviate, and the condition may require getting our hands dirty?  Life, with others, gets messy.  Bearing each other's burdens.  Hmm....not really glamorous.  Not very convenient.  It may take up some time and mental space.  It may even be a hairball on the floor, one that you will step in later.

Like Olive, there are those around us who need kindness, even if their only redeeming value is they persist in living.  Too many people function with little to no support.  We want to brush them off, hoping some agency will serve them. 

If we are going to follow Jesus, it isn't the job we do or the places we go or the people we know that mean anything.  If we are transformed by Him, He said we can do anything.  And loving people is a big one, even if they are not fitting nicely into our schedule and ideas of how we want to spend our time.

Maybe you didn't need that reminder, but I did.