Advice From Bob for a Successful Season of Holidays

I've had people indicate that family holiday celebrations are a necessary evil. It seems important to spend time with loved ones at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, but sometimes spending a prolonged amount of time with those loved ones can end in a verbal barrage.

Eating In Peace

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 12:18

     Bob, the orange and white manx kitten, is larger than Tailer, the kitten who is mostly orange with the normal long cat tail. As my sister jokingly says, “Bob loves the groceries.” But one evening I observed something a bit unusual.

      I always feed Bob and Tailer using separate bowls. Somehow though, Tailer frequently goes to the bowl where Bob is eating. He squeezes his smaller head into the bowl where Bob’s larger head is involved in some serious consumption. Bob lifts his head, takes notice of the vacant bowl, and simply moves to that bowl that Tailer had left.
       I observed the above scenario happen at least four times. Each time Bob just moved to the unoccupied bowl without a meow, low growl, or even a chirp for which he is famous.
      As I silently watched them eat, I had to ask myself how often I seek the peaceful solution the way Bob did – over and over and over. Bob sought and retained peace at their evening feeding because he chose to change what he had control to change. He didn’t try to change Tailer, but changed his stance.
      Sometimes our actions say that we want peace, but under our breath, we complain about others’ behavior that put us in these situations. Not Bob. His actions and his silence did nothing to stir up any problems at the feeding bowls.

May that soft, furry, bob-tailed, half-grown kitten be our example for how to retain peace as we go through life.

 

                                                                  Bob taking a break from "the groceries" he dearly loves.

Note: Bob is much larger now - about twice as big as the above photograph shows. The manuscript "Eating in Peace" was written several months ago. 





A more recent photo of Bob.

For more about Bob and Tailer, go to the first blog post in which they appeared entitled Four Little Kittens that was posted on April 27, 2014, or see The Orphan Kittens - Almost 90 Days Old which posted on July 6, 2014.