Life Lesson

Last night, the assistant director at my work's son's guinea pig died. His name was Scamper. Now Brian, the son, was really attached to his pet, and it really shook him up. They had left on vacation to Florida and left Scamper with friends. Unfortunately, Scamper ate something that dissagreed with him, and he died shortly after they picked him back up.

They had a memorial service for Scamper, and buried him in the back yard. While they were holding hands and praying, an alley cat that had been around lately came up to them. For some reason, the cat wanted to sit in the middle of the circle and wouldn't move for anything. The family finally went back into the house, but the cat was scratching and meowing at the door. The wife went outside and figured out that the cat was pregnant and about to have kittens.

So, they blew up an inflatable kiddy pool they had, threw in some blankets, and the kittens were born in their garage. Interestingly enough, a lot of strangers that just happened to be in the alley stopped by to see they new kittens too. My assistant director said that at one point, they had half a dozen strangers in their garage.

This just gets me thinking about how good God is. God created animals for us. He saved the animals from the flood; he endears us with animals. God knows that pets can give us joy. He is kind to us in ways that we often take for granted.

And Brian learned a valuable life lesson: because of the fall and this world, death happens. It happens in everyone's life, and eventually to everyone themselves. But, God can make good come from any situation. If Scamper hadn't died, maybe the family wouldn't have been outside and that cat wouldn't have seen them. She wouldn have had to have her babies in the alley by herself. It gave this family a chance to be kind to this cat, and Brian the chance to see life being born instead of just dying.

At first glance, it may seem like a childish issue to be concerned with: a dead guinea pig and some kittens, but I think that it might have been just simple enough for us to catch on. Plus, perhaps some new connections or friendships were made with those strangers who stopped in. Perhaps neighbors who had never met now had a chance to. Maybe people had a new oportunity to love and be loved by others, and that's not very childish at all.

I'm so thankful that God cares about the intricacies of our lives, right down to the kittens and guinea pigs.