Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Joy of Doing Things You Might Not Want to Do

Today was filled with an adventure. An adventure to find a stray cat a new home. An adventure to do the right thing even though I may not have wanted to do it in the beginning.

Aimee, our 13 year old daughter, is quite the animal lover. This proved to be our biggest challenge a few nights ago. Aimee found a stray kitten in the storm drain across the street from our home. This darling little kitten was cold, tired and hungry. (It was also dirty and a bit crazy, if you ask me.) After a quick capture, a few scratches and a good bite or two, kitty was safe in our garage for the evening.

Fast forward to today. Another round of phone calls got us no closer to finding a shelter that would take her/him (the kitten). Until one last phone call to a "not-so-close" shelter. We drove the 45 minutes trip over to this city to take this little furball. Thinking we were doing the right thing by allowing her to be adopted by a family that would love her/him as much as we love our two cats and dog and turtle and fishes. (Get the picture? The Pauquette Zoo was full!)

After a very warm welcome by the staff, they took one little look at "Buttons" and decided that they could not accept her, as they believed she was sick. Great! I not only have had a stray cat in my garage for 4 days, but now, she/he/it was sick? The ladies there were so kind and sympathetic, yet helped us decide what to do next: take her to the medical clinic next door and get her all fixed up and then bring her back to the shelter when she was well.

So, we headed to the clinic, which truly was right next door. The staff was kind, gracious, loving and above all, helpful in our plight to get "Buttons" well. After a rather long visit, a few tests, a few different percriptions, anit-flea medicine and a nice bill for the credit card, we were headed back home with "Buttons".

Did I want to spend my day in an animal hospital? Not really. Did I want to spend money on a cat that whose only other fate was to be put down? No. But in reality, it was the right thing to do.

Doing the right thing isn't always easy or cheap. Doing the right thing is hard. There is Joy in choosing to do the right thing. Sure, it is easy to sit back and think, "Well, I would not have spent money on a stray cat." or "The right thing would have been to put the cat back out on the street where it came from". But in our heart God allows us to know what the right thing is. Isn't this what we have always tried to teach our children? Do the right thing!

So anyone want a kitty? :-)

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a day for us sometimes, only with small injured birds.

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  2. This was so your love language. If this does not constitute an "Acts Of Service" I don't know what does. You are so beautiful as you walk in your God given, spirit filled strength's! I love your heart Alice. (((big hugs)))

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