We hear it a lot, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” A more serious form, “People just don’t change.” A bit sceptical. But perhaps, if an independent, self-willed, and amoral stray cat can change, then dogs have hope. Maybe even people.
We already had a cat we loved, Sandy. Intelligent and exceptionally affectionate. After I showered, he’d jump on the bed and continue “grooming” my beard. Then came a stray through a hole in the fence. Young. Determined. We squirted water and threw rocks in her direction, yet she hung around for months. We fed her a little. But when she became pregnant our hearts softened, and we accepted her adopting us, calling her Allie. Yeah, Allie Cat.
But she knew her place: #2 behind Sandy. They got along OK, played some together, but Allie stayed a bit reticent. Grateful for a home, but skittish. Reserved. Then feline leukemia finally took Sandy’s life when Allie was nine, and she blossomed. Getting more attention, she became more affectionate. Trusting us more, she became less skittish. When Allie was 12, Sheila broke her back, and Allie took charge. She’d climb on Sheila’s chest to comfort her, rarely leaving her side. She even followed me into the bathroom for petting. She had learned some new tricks, this cat.
Then, seven months ago, her health began to fail. The vet suggested feline diabetes, and she became so weak she could barely get onto the couch to join Sheila. Her long trips to explore outside became 10 minutes lounging somewhere close. She mostly lived on the couch, and began pulling out clumps of hair, from not knowing how to deal with these changes.
Finally, we took her to the vet, the pic shows Sheila and her at the vet’s table, where she left us a few moments later, just short of 15 years old. But she left us with a number of lessons. If she could keep learning new tricks, if she could adapt to changing circumstances, then maybe we humans lose our excuses. “Well, that’s just the way I am.” “I’ve been like this all my life.” Maybe we’re not chained to our past experiences and life.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul listed sinful behaviors the people there had chosen, then concluded, “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God… Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:11, 19-20 NLT).
You were…you are…you must. And, following the lesson of Allie, you can.
Kick Starting the Application
What are some behaviors or traits you’ve excused by thinking, “Well, that’s just how God made me?” Why do those rationalizations work with you? How has this post influenced your views? Do you sense you’re on track to making the kind of changes Paul talked about? How can you get on the track, or keep moving along it?