Happy Wednesday!
Today got off to a rocky start for me- I slept in…on a preschool day. Oops.
Preschool days are supposed to be early days! I need to get Gabriel up and dressed by 6:30, followed by the girls, so they can eat breakfast and we can get out the door by 7:30, giving us enough time for everyone to be buckled and ready for me to start backing out of the driveway by 7:40. (Welcome to my thought process!).
Usually I get up around 5:15-5:30 on these mornings. But today I didn’t get up until 6:00. And 30 minutes may not sound like a lot of time, but it made me fall far behind in my morning routine! I didn’t get to pray my morning rosary. Instead, I was rushing around so I could get out the door on time (we made it!).
My Car Ride
As a result of missing my morning prayer time, I took advantage of the car ride and used that time to pray for people and remember what I was thankful for. I noticed the tree in our yard was in bloom and pointed it out to my kids as we were getting in the car, and said that when we see something that beautiful we should say a prayer to Jesus to say thank you! The beauty of the trees got me into my prayer mindset for the car ride.
(I wrote a post on Instagram about the trees- you can check it out there 🙂 )
So as I was driving, I was thinking of everyone/ everything I wanted to pray for- my husband, my family, prayers of thanksgiving for spring, friends, etc. Then I see Snowy out of the corner of my eye (I bring her with us in the car when I can) and thank God for her! She has been such a great companion to me! Especially as a military wife where my husband travels and can be gone for weeks to months at a time, it is nice to have her around to keep me company (you know, company other than the kids :’D).
Dogs vs. Cats
Then I got to thinking about something my sister told me one of her friends said about dogs. They said that they prefer cats (everyone is entitled to their opinion) because you have to earn their love, where as with dogs, they just automatically love you.
Obviously, this is going off of the stereotypes of each animal, and each cat and each dog has a unique personality and may not fall into this stereotype. And it got me thinking. Maybe we aren’t seeing the big picture when it comes to animals.
Dogs
All animals are God’s creation. God created everything and loves to show his love for us through His creation. The stereotype for dogs is that most are super friendly and will love anyone who gives them attention or food. After all, they didn’t earn the title “man’s best friend” for nothing.
What if this friendly nature of dogs is actually a reflection of God’s love for us? He loves us no matter what and is always by our side. He doesn’t care what we look like, as long as we are kind to others and try to spend time with Him in prayer, He’s happy. He gets sad if we stray away and is always happy when we find our way back to Him.
Dogs are loyal. They don’t care what we look like, as long as we treat them with kindness and spend time with them, they’re happy! They get sad when we have to leave and super excited when we come back home. A dog’s love for their caretaker is unconditional, and is a great reflection of the love God has for each of us.
Cats
The stereotype for cats is that they are not always as friendly as dogs are portrayed. Obviously, every cat is different. But as my sister’s friend pointed out, cats require you to earn their love. Going off this idea, I feel like this generalization on cats relates to our journey to get to Heaven.
God loves each of us unconditionally, but we still have to earn our way into heaven. It takes time to build a relationship with Him, and for us to trust Him. We might stumble along the way, but if we put enough time and effort into our faith and our relationship with God, then we’ll get rewarded and be able to join Him in Heaven.
The Big Picture
I hope all of that can explain the thoughts I was having this morning during the car ride. I did not finish my coffee when I was thinking all of this, so that could explain some things…
I am also finally sitting down to write this at 9:20pm at night, after having this idea pop into my head this morning, so it’s not as fresh anymore.
The point I’m trying to make is ultimately that God can be found all around us (and in us too!). From the beauty of nature, kind actions of others, and even in characteristics in animals. All of God’s creation has some resemblance of Him, some sort of reflection to give a nod to it’s Creator.
I hope this post was a fun take on the cat vs. dog argument! And whatever side you’re on, you’re choosing God’s creation with it’s own personal reflection of Him, so everyone is a winner!
What are some other animals/things where you see God’s presence? Are you team cat or dog? Share below 🙂
