Clawed by a Friend!

  Have you ever been the victim of your friends fear, stupidity or carelessness? Perhaps you have heard people say that those closest to you can often hurt you the most. How true that is. My mom is now 91 years old and lives alone in Maine. Since she was 80 she has had a goal in mind to celebrate her 100th birthday. Every year I often wonder what excitement will be next with my mom? This past year has been a tough year for her as she had to give up her driver’s license after a mishap. At first I thought she would not handle it well, but she really adjusted better than I expected because she has such a great attitude.

No harm intended!

I recently had to call her with sad news about the death of a family member. She did not answer the phone at 10 p.m. and I wondered if she heard it or not. As other wondering thoughts passed through my mind about why she did not answer I decided to call my brother to make sure about her whereabouts. She ended up calling me back later after 11 p.m. and told me a rather funny story. The reason why it was funny was because she laughed and had such a great attitude about how her friend clawed her and sent her to the hospital.

You see my mom has a cat named Bunny and she was home enjoying the evening with her furr ball on her lap. An unexpected sound startled the cat and she clawed her in the legs without realizing it as she fled the room. Immediately my mom called 911 and the ambulance came and took her to the hospital. She received 9 stitches in her leg. When she was finished they asked her if she had a family member nearby to pick her up to take her home. She told them she had no family near. So they said,” no problem we will send you home with a police officer”.

As she was telling me about the adventures of her unexpected and long night she was so positive as well. With giggles and laughs she told me about the noise, a jumping cat, blood, stitches, ambulance and her first ever ride in a police car. Attitude certainly makes the difference in my mom’s life and I believe it is one key to her longevity as well. Instead of whining about her tragic evening that could not be undone I heard laughs, first time experiences and the joy of her first ever police car ride home

Just because someone who loves you might have clawed you, does not mean you cannot forgive, understand and release and get your lap cat back. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5 The way of Jesus is to learn to love those who claw us even when they did not intend too or for that matter even if they did. After all maybe it was an accident and the intent was not what the outcome became. Jesus said,"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Regardless of the intent, Children of God are called to forgive and love. With a Jesus kind of attitude we can learn to have joy when we are clawed.