I told you many blogs ago that I’d have Skipper stories!  (See “Welcome Home” from 6/5, as well as 6/25, 7/5, and 7/8.)  Here goes…

Skipper the cat has a taste for rubbery things like some computer cords, ear buds, and hair ties.  When he was a year or so old, he ate a whole eighteen inch long elastic hair band (three-eighths wide).  How did we find out?  Skipper started puking every fifteen minutes all over the house until I took him to the vet and an x-ray revealed something stuck in his gut.  A very costly surgery later, we learned to keep ear buds and hair ties hidden away from our rubber-hungry feline.

Fast forward to today.

Skipper has been back in my house for about a month now.  Ear buds are never left out and I have one drawer in the bathroom where hair ties are kept.  This morning as I got out of bed, I stumbled past the ‘hair tie drawer’ and grabbed a hair tie to pull my bed head hair out of my face so I could get some coffee in me.  I gave a push to close the drawer, and noticed that it was almost closed all of the way.  The inch or two it remained cracked open I felt was of no temptation to Skipper.

A few hours later, Kristen and I heard a noise of mischievousness.   “What is Skipper doing?” Kristen asked as she searched for the source of the sound.  “Oh – Skipper found a hair tie, Mom!  You left your drawer open.”

Ahhhhhhh!   Nooooooo!

Nine inches – I measured – there was only nine inches left of the eighteen inch head band elastic.  Unable to find any random pieces of elastic on the ground, I must assume Skipper swallowed the rest.

So far Skipper is acting fine.  My vet-in-training daughter Jillian advised that I give him some stuff to eat that helps hairballs ‘slide out’ easier.  It might help the swallowed elastic.  Skipper is also larger than he was for his last swallowing episode so perhaps his digestive system can handle it this time.  Plus – he only swallowed a piece half the size as last time.  Only the passing of time will tell if he’s going to, well ya know, pass the piece of elastic.

It made me think …

We all have temptations.  We want to eat more than we should, stretch the truth farther than it should be, flirt with someone we shouldn’t, drink more than we can handle, give in to laziness too often, or self-indulge when we should be selfless.  How much does that itch have to bother you before you scratch?  Skipper must have had his eye on that drawer for the whole month he’s been here.  And today, when it was finally left open an inch or two, he immediately indulged in reaching that sneaky paw of his in to pull out the tempting elastic hair tie.

The lesson here is if we want to avoid sinful behaviors, we need to know what tempts us and how easily we are tempted.  I know I eat way more chocolate and potato chips than I should.  If those foods are in the house, I eat them.  I can’t stop myself.  Gimme, gimme, gimme!  The only way I can stop myself from eating them is to not purchase them and have them in the house at all.  Can you stop at one drink?  Or do you keep yourself miles away from any bar or alcohol?  Can you resist an inch of trouble without grabbing up the whole yard?

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

James 1:14 But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Whatever tempts you, I hope you can find ways to distract yourself.  God promises to help – be sure to ask Him!  Let’s not be like Skipper and, when we find the drawer open an inch, feel driven to get our paws into trouble.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of Skipper’s elastic hair tie gastronomical adventures…

<sigh>

I’ll be here waiting for time (or swallowed elastic tie) to pass.

just Laurel