I think I have the most well-behaved kitty on the planet. ;) I don’t mean that she is perfect – she has her fair share of naughtiness – but she LISTENS when I discipline her.
Lily loves to sit on the window sill by my open window every morning – so many things to watch and hear and smell! This morning at 5 am, she decided to try to sit in the window sill…even though the window and blinds were both closed. She jumped up and got herself stuck in the blinds, so I hurried out of bed to “rescue” her. After carefully pulling her out, I took her to the floor, held her down on her back, and told her no. She lay there for a minute in submission before getting up to play. She knew her place and that she had done something wrong. As I went back to sleep, I heard her racing around the room, running through her “tent” and playing with her toys. I smiled.
After a while, she climbed up on my couch by the window again. She reached out her paw and touched the blinds. I opened my eyes and said, “Psst!” while snapping my fingers, which is what I use to caution her not to do something. She paused to look at me and then hopped down off the couch. What a good girl! Three more times this morning she jumped up to touch the blinds, but each time at the sound of my discipline noise, she hopped down to obey.
It may seem annoying that I had to keep after her all morning, but isn’t that how we are with our Lord? Time and time again, we are tempted, we falter, and we show our sinful nature – but the Lord is always patient to teach and forgive us. How well do we LISTEN and obey?