Lookin’ Pretty

I can’t believe I am blogging about this…but bear with me. There is a point to my craze.

My adorable cat teaches me lots of lessons…about persistence (meowing non-stop till she gets fed), about the joy of surprises (pouncing out of nowhere to scare me and make me spill my glass of water all over the floor), and, among others, about the importance of looking pretty. What do I mean by that?

First, I absolutely DON’T mean the importance of vanity. I am not saying that all that counts is to make ourselves look outwardly beautiful (even though she does lick herself a lot). I want to have nothing to do with cultivating a culture of appearances, superficiality and deception.

What I’m talking about is this. We are people who are driven: driven to achieve many things, driven to establish ourselves in the world, driven to experience as much of life as possible before we die, driven by time … We are driven to find purpose. We get busy doing so many things we think are SO important…

My cat reminds me that sometimes, we get so busy DOING that we forget how to just BE. She’s not interested in how many flies she can catch. She just chases them when they come. She doesn’t worry about how long it takes for her to bathe. She is perfectly contented to just bask in the sun…and I become completely absorbed by her cuteness that I myself lose track of time…

Sometimes we are so driven to find purpose that we forget that we already have an inherent purpose: being the dignified work of art of a God Who loves us…and who could spend all of eternity just admiring us.

So while it is good to look for more out of this life, most of the time it’s good to also just be ourselves, live our life as it comes…and look pretty, as we were made! That will also give us the chance to become absorbed by the incredible Beauty of the One Who made us.

“[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. […] Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. […] Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” -Luke 12: 22-23, 27, 32.