Food for thought

Sometimes I watch my kitten eat his dry food. It's not his favorite thing. He prefers wet food. So he scoops up the kitten chow with a paw, surveys it and eats some. Then the next time he scoops up more and chucks it over his shoulder.

This leaves an ever-growing pile of dry food near his bowl. He hasnt figured out yet that I cant clean it up so he keeps doing it. The pile becomes so large and widespread that he has to walk around it to get at his wet food. At times the dry food gets into his wet food, spilling over onto the paper plate.

I attempt to,pick some up or push it around with a quad reacher until someone comes over to help. Meanwhile the kitten continues to toss the dry food around not quite making the connection that he's creating the mess that interferes with enjoying his wet food. It gets under the wheels of my chair too

Not everyone who comes over will clean up the kittens mess. Some folks forget. Others think he'll stop doing it if he gets uncomfortable enough. So the pile can get really high while we debate whether the kitten knows what he's doing.

This isn't a post about government waste and spending. It really is about a kitten who prefers wet food. But maybe there's a message in there about learning good stewardship of resources at our disposal as we grow up and teaching that to our kids They can't count on and shouldn't always expect someone else to clean up a mess they created.

On the other hand common sense dictates that a kitten and a quadriplegic aren't going to be able to clean it up either. A refusal to help until the situation gets so uncomfortable that it's supposed to teach a lesson isn't exactly useful in that kind of scenario.

It can be difficult to separate out a real crunch time from a self made mess. Sometimes humility is called for, to discern when a simple act of service would help.

One can pray about these things while sweeping.