Sights and Insights
Devotion for Feb. 1, 2022
Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad. Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here. Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. – Philippians 4:4-7 (CEV)
The big excitement in the Trozzo household is the recent addition of a small black kitten that we have named Francesca. She got her name because she purrs so loudly that it sounds like a small propeller plan, like a Cessna. I don’t have a great deal of experience with cats. We have an 18-month-old cat as well, but he is the first cat that I’ve had. He’s quite a friendly cat, but it is a completely different experience to have this little kitten. She instantly and insistently climbs all over everyone, with a preference for sitting on people’s head or shoulders. It is both adorable and a bit overwhelming to encounter that level of excitement at all hours of the day.
Part of what is irresistible about kittens, I think, is there profound joy and excitement with the world around them. The zest for figuring out the world around them and the utter joy at encountering a string is such a sign of contentment. Beyond that, Francesca certainly exudes a sense of, “Of course everyone will love me.” Oh that we could have the confidence to live that way: excited by the world and confident in being loved.
We get swept away by so many worries. We look down the road at what is to come and find ourselves stressed by it. We become bored by what’s around us rather than seeing the possibilities. Our relationships with one another too often become sources of stress. Watching a kitten, we can see so much of what we yearn for, and that reminds us of who we are called to be. Just seeing it is enough to bring a bit of joy to us.
God’s intention for us is to feel loved and feel content in the moment we are experiencing. Yet we struggle to stay in moment and in that experience of God’s love. The scriptures are full of reminders to turn to God as a way to recapture that sense of who God created us to be and how God created us to live. You can find that theme in the Psalms, in Jesus’ teaching, and in the epistles. As Philippians reminds us, central to prayer is letting go of our worries and concerns and accepting the peace that comes from recognizing that we are loved by God. Ancient Christians called this practice “watchfulness,” while today we often use the Zen Buddhist term “mindfulness.” Central to the practice, whatever we call is, is the letting go and finding the joy of resting in God in the moment we are in.