GOOD SPIRITS August 6, 2020

I am amused by the compound’s cat.  It lives alone, while the dog’s family has grown to at least 4 litters, many of which had already been distributed to neighbors and friends.  While the dog’s family act like bullies, barking like mad, especially whenever visitors, vendors or delivery people come or someone they have only seen the first time gets near the gate, the cat just basically ignores whoever is there.  My uncle’s chicken are also scared of it, because no matter how noisy they are or how sharp their beaks, one scratch and slash of the kitty’s sharp claws sends them scampering away, cuckolding like it’s the end of the world.  The curious new puppies learn early on not to mess with it, for one scratch and one fierce “Ngyawr!!!” from the cat, and they grow up not bothering it the one least bit afterwards.

 

The funny thing about the cat is that one would never guess it would be able to amount to anything much.  I am not sure if it’s congenital or because of an earlier accident, because it moves in a lopsided manner.  Whenever it walks, it doesn’t do so on a straight line, or even in the characteristic “Catwalk” manner, but it swings its hind part to the right; and yet, whenever it sees rats, it sprints faster than even the dogs and the chicken.  And whenever feeding time comes, it scampers fast, yet looks a little pitiful because of its body swings.  My aunt’s rumor has it that the cat, a tom by the way, has sired many, but these, including his girlfriends, are ‘felina-non-grata’ inside the compound, so kitty lives a bachelor to this day, peacefully enjoying his daily cat naps near the kitchen.

 

It is strange yet humbling that nature can teach us so many things about life.  Here is a creature whom one sees a disability in, yet it manages to do its tasks, fulfills its life purpose (catching rats and critters), and also manages to protect its territory fiercely and successfully.  There is a lesson to be learned from something who doesn’t let its handicaps make it forget for one moment what it is, what it can do, and what its genes are made of.  Yes, since the cat belongs to the same family as lions and tigers, it is the king of the compound animals—its own jungle.  It may be alone as a species, but it reigns supreme as one fierce predator who can never be bothered nor bullied, so that one cannot help but think that maybe in this situation, it might not be so lonely at the top, if one is self-actualized, and doesn’t need to please its masters (like the dogs and the puppies obviously do).

 

The Word we hear today also runs on the same vein, in the second epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, chapter 1.  In here we learn of his empowering words to the young minister (verses 2 to 4), that even if the rest of the brethren had turned coat and abandoned him (verse 15), so many people persecuted him and tried to destroy his work which made him suffer (verse 12), yet by the grace and the will of GOD (verse 1), he is encouraged by the support of other brethren who remain loyal to him and who tirelessly work with Him in spreading the gospel to the world (verses 16 to 18).  The apostle reminded Timothy not to be scared or to be ashamed (verse 8), because the work that they do is in obedience to the highest eternal call (verse 9)—that of proclaiming the good news of the salvation from Jesus Christ, and His promise of eternal life to all who follow Him (verse 1).

 

Lest any person should doubt Timothy’s conviction, qualification, background and upbringing, the apostle reminded him to remember that his faith is not something unproven and acquired just recently or in a passing fancy, but something inherited as a legacy from his grandmother and mother (verse 5), and that because of this and upon attaining spiritual maturity, he was given the precious gift of GOD, which came to him by the laying on of the hands of the great apostle (verse 6).

 

In verse 7 the apostle told Timothy why he must be brave and strong in fulfilling the call of GOD, because, “…GOD has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  These are necessary for the young minister to fulfill his role in GOD’s work, that “…is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who had abolished death, and had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (verse 11).  These words are for us today too, who believe and worship the same GOD and receive the same commission to participate in His work here on earth.

 

Just as kitty-tom-cat never for one moment forgot who he is, what he is made of, and what he can do, we are also likewise reminded in verses 13 and 14 to: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.  That good thing which was committed unto you keep by the Holy Ghost which dwells in us.”  These are the kinds of spirits we should be familiar with, the ones we should always invoke and employ in our daily living.  By the power, the comfort and peace unleashed on us by GOD’s Holy Spirit, may we always be filled and overcome by GOD’s spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind.