Max II

I am adding to this - a previous post.

Of the many cats I have had in the past, Max was one of my favorites. I loved Max. I had no choice. One can resist only so much irrepressible, selfless love and affection. Max was born on my back porch in a litter of stray kittens. When I saw how badly they all had fleas I took pity and gave them flea baths. All of Max's siblings scrambled away, legs splayed and yowling upon release. But Max was instantly tamed. When I would put food out on the back porch, all of the other kittens would run for the dish. Max would run for me. When ever the kitchen light would go on there was Max up on the window ledge, rubbing back and forth against the glass, purring. Yes, Max tied a string around my heart... I would like to be a lot more like Max in the love dept. A lot more selfless, more willing to overlook an offense, more extroverted and relentless in my affection. Of course even Jesus couldn't win every one's love and affection, but He died trying.

There are people in my life that I can't dislike - they won't let me. They are always there with a warm smile, and big hug and a word of encouragement. Its hard to misinterpret that. Many times throughout my life I have found to my own surprise that a person dislikes me for no reason I can consciously account for. I start racking my brain to try to pin point what it was I did or said that offended. My usual response is, "Why? I didn't do anything to them." Now I find myself asking if perhaps that wasn't the problem in and of itself. Many times as a teacher's assistant I will correct a child and hear, "But I didn't do anything!" to which I respond, "That's the problem! You didn't turn around, you didn't follow directions, you didn't close your mouth." Its hard to misinterpret a warm greeting, a kind word, and a hearty embrace. Maybe not doing those things is a bigger problem than we think. I'm not saying that we have to run around with a fake smile on our face and a Pollyanna pose. But perhaps we all could stand to take a look around our lives and make more of an effort to embrace and reach out to those whom we might have overlooked for whatever reason in the past. Perhaps we all need to make more of an effort to make our love more unmistakable.