Tiny Sweaters and Shooting Eggs

Aaaaaaand, suddenly - it's fall! 
Where in the world did the time go?? It seems only yesterday it was spring.  I think it must be a sign of getting older.  When you're a kid, time seems to stretch out.  A school year last forever, the time between Halloween and Christmas is an eternity! Now that I'm older, I blink and 6 months have passed by before I can finish my morning coffee.  Change can be like that.  Sometimes it creeps in slowly and things are different before you realize it is happening, and then sometimes, things change drastically from when you go to bed at night and when you rise the next morning. 

Things have changed some around my house, aka Insanity Castle, in the last few months as well.  For one thing, we have a new member of the family.  Now before you all wonder how I managed to sneak a pregnancy by you, the new member has four legs and is quite a bit furrier than I am (though there have been times, but that's another story....).   Introducing the newest Bowden - Mac! (aka, little Mac, Macaroni, Maca-doodle-do, etc)

As you can see, he is making himself right at home.  He's a sweet little rescue kitty that has a quirky personality that fits right in with the "unusualness" of my home.  One thing he just couldn't seem to learn was to stay off of J's desk. 

Any of you who know J in r/l know he is slightly particular about how things are kept on his desk.  I admit I have resorted to placing a sign warning people not to touch it during the times I have had help cleaning.  The problem is, J's desk was in the perfect location for a cat to get a little sun.  It was right in front of, not one, but two windows through which the afternoon sun poured in.  It was like having two little kitty tanning beds.  Looking back, I really should have charged, I could have made a small fortune, at least in kibble and catnip. 

J, unfortunately, does not share in my entrepreneur spirit.  I cannot understand why he would not enjoy finding enough cat hair to knit a small sweater and the occasional piece of kitty litter adorning his workspace.  Some people I just don't "get".

After an eternity,  a millennium,  centuries,  decades,  years,  months several weeks of fussing and fighting the good furry fight, J gave up and went in search of reinforcements .  After a foray into our local PetSmart, J came home with a shooting egg.  No, that is not a typo, I did say a shooting egg, or at least that is the way he described it to me on the phone.  I wasn't sure what to expect!

I wasn't expecting the 12 inch, grey, plastic thing that was sitting on his desk when I got home.  It is sort of egg shaped, I guess.  In a weird sort of way.  I didn't see any tiny little guns so I wasn't sure where the shooting part came in.  I reached down to pick it up to have a closer look and it shot me.  I had been shot by a large, plastic, desk-sitting egg.  Thankfully it was only a blast of compressed air and a hideously startling noise!  Still, I jumped sky high, gave a little squeak gasped ladylike  and shrieked like a small child being chased by the boogie man!  It seems this little egg comes complete with a motion sensor that detects the movement of any small furry little sunbather and shoots it with a blast of air.  I have seen this is action and it is indeed, a sight to behold.  I didn't actually know that a cat could jump that high from a standstill.  Apparently, being shot with a violent blast of air accompanied by a huge hiss from a plastic egg is enough to make those of the feline persuasion take flight, quite literally.  That may be the only time I have ever seen a cat go all the way upstairs without actually touching a single stair. 

Now I may, or may not have moved the egg near where the cats were sleeping and I may or may not have sat and waited and watched until they moved just right and it went off.  I may or may not have laughed hysterically as they were ripped from their peaceful kitty slumber by a sound that, I'm sure, now haunts their little feline dreams.  And I may or may not have hurt myself with my excessive cackling.  (okay, that last part is definitely true.  I think I pulled something...) Confession time!  All of the above is actually quite true.  In my defense, it was completely hilarious!!  At this point, Mac will not even step foot in the office anymore.  He now leaves his hairy signature on the chair in my office! 

Here's the deal, this big scary monster, this huge terrifying creature, this invader of kitty lives and ingredient of haunting feline nightmares is, actually, quite harmless.  Sure, it makes a fearful sound and you certainly feel it's hateful breath tinge with sulfur from the fires of hell, okay, maybe I'm exaggerating on that last bit, but you do feel the puff of air it blows.  But that is it.  There is nothing else to it.  It does not actually have the power to do any real damage.  It cannot grab Mac or Koko or LR, who helped me clean my house, with tiny little plastic egg hands.  It is powerless.  So why is it successful?  How is it able to do it's job so well?  I'm so glad, dear reader, that you asked that question!

Little grey, plastic egg's power comes from its ability to make those around it believe it has the power to harm them.  AAhhhhh!  I hear the sound of 1000 light bulbs switching on all at the same time.  You see where I'm going with this?  It doesn't have to actually do anything.  It only has to make the cats believe that it is.  Those of you who are regular readers know that I am a little too "different" to leave it lay there.  There is a connection here.

It's all about faith, belief, and the power thereof.  You see, we are going to believe in something.  Either you are going to believe in God and His goodness or you are going to believe that the enemy has more power.  There really are no other choices.  There is no Switzerland in this debate.  You cannot remain neutral.  Either you are believing God or you are buying what the enemy is selling.  The enemy would love for you to believe he has power over you.  That is really all he has to do in order to have control over your actions.  He is powerless over a child of God, but if he can make you believe otherwise he wins.  Just like little Mac is too afraid of the shooting egg to step foot in that office again, so you become too afraid to step out after God because of your belief in the power of the enemy.  Your belief in the enemy's lies hands him the power of control over your life.

So, my challenge to you this week, my dear readers, is to reexamine just where your belief truly lies.  Are you saying you believe God but all the while, you are cowering before a little air blowing, funny noise making enemy? It's time we take stock in what we truly believe by examining our actions.  Psalms tells us that, as a man believes in his heart, so is he.  ( I don't know the reference, google it!) We can know what we truly believe by how we act.  So look around and see if you can spy any little plastic eggs in your life that keep you afraid to venture into places the Lord would have you go.

Till next time, I'll be here, herding cats and knitting tiny feline sweaters.  I'm thinking of putting them on ebay.  Any takers?????

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor