Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Happy Birthday, Baxter

Baxter is having a birthday this weekend. He is sweet sixteen! While that is a young and fresh age for us, humans, for cats, sixteen places him in the senior ranks. Baxter does show his age, and mainly in two ways. He has slowed down. While he can still run to fetch a piece of kibble or when he goes into one of his “crazy” jamming sessions from room to room, most of the time, Baxter saunters to where he wants to be. He has come to realize that for most things in life, there is no need to hurry. Age has a way of putting him at ease while it reduces his pace.

Baxter’s age has also made him more affectionate. When he was a young, cool cat, Baxter warmed up to people on his terms. If I had something he wanted, he was all purrs and cuddles, but if the time or mood didn’t suit him, he was aloof and untouchable, shunning any attempts at petting or holding him. Now though, it’s a different story. Baxter seeks my company at various times throughout the day, and he purrs whenever I touch, pet or scratch him. He crawls on my lap several times a day, and he waits at the door when I come home, even if he has already been fed. In his senior years, Baxter has become a softy.

These changes In Baxter’s attitude can apply to us as well. We need to learn how to slow down. Sometimes we can get caught up in all that needs done that we don’t recognize how supercharged we are. We go from activity to activity, scheduled event to scheduled event without thinking about what we are doing, and at the end of the day, we wonder why we are exhausted. Life becomes a series of jobs we check off when completed, and we begin to wonder where this hectic treadmill is taking us. When we slow it down, we still have as much time in the day, but now it is filled with savoring a few things and appreciating what they reveal about the meaning and purpose of our lives. A treadmill gets us nowhere, but a walk in the park alone or with your spouse can show you how God is our companion each day.

Also, we can learn to accept genuine affection when it comes our way, and to offer it whenever we can. As the maturity that can come with age allows us to be less and less self absorbed, we need to appreciate what others have given us and value their companionship. Those who stood by us when times were tough, those who counseled us without demanding our agreement, those who put up with our anger, moodiness and stone silence without returning it in kind, those who wanted only the best for us and didn’t see us as rivals, all these deserve to know we hold them dearly and are shaped by their love. Here the Lord Jesus showed His face through the faces of those who were His disciples in our lives.

Cool cats are young, rambunctious and full of themselves. Mature cats are confident but humble, and warm towards others. Despite what we lose through the passing of the years, we gain so much more that really matters. Let us take time this Lent to cut our losses and consolidate our gains, to be less harried and more at peace, to abandon our cool veneer and show our true affections. Then we may know that although we are getting older, God is making us better with age. Happy Birthday, Baxter.