Cruelty-Free Kittens

​​We’ve had our two cats since kittenhood. They’re sisters, littermates.
 
When we adopted them, our daughter was beyond pleased and wondered how she lived two whole years without feline support. (I suspect she still secretly blames me for subjecting her to those years of deprivation. Not really. Really. Not really. Really.)
 
It was the first time I’d adopted kittens.
 
I accurately anticipated a lot of their pros and cons beforehand. Actually, their pleasures and annoyances are often the same things. Here’s an example: For the kittens everything is a toy. PLEASURE! For the kittens everything is a toy. ANNOYANCE! Same thing.
 
But the most beautiful part of having young kittens I never saw coming. Yet, now that I’ve seen it, it’s an amazing spiritual discovery that still impacts me every day.
 
Neither of the kittens had ever experienced cruelty from a human being. (They still haven’t.)
 
The newborn kittens were loved by a foster household of humans until we adopted them, and we have certainly loved the heck out of them since adoption.
 
So, they look at us anticipating goodness. They don’t look at us with trepidation and fear. I’ve noticed that this is also their approach to guests.
 
How long can that continue? How long can I be a part of that continuing?
 
I know the kittens are probably the only creatures I meet each day that have not experienced the darkness of human cruelty. I know I have given cruelty to others, and I know I have received it as well.
 
But, as a follower of Jesus, as a Christian, as literally a “little Christ”, can I make this a day where I do not expand the cruelty in the world? Can this be a day God uses me to reduce it?
 
What about you?