It wasn’t easy, for Baby was not enchanted with his little sister, Dolly, but gradually he did learn to accept her. Not only did he learn to accept her, but the two of them became inseparable. Dolly was so relieved. Not only because Baby stopped beating her up, but because she had been lonely at our house. Soon Baby began to clean Dolly with her tongue (a sure sign of friendship between cats) and Dolly began to curl up and sleep in Baby’s arms. One day I even saw Dolly cleaning Baby. Wow the two of them had come a long way. The two of them even worked out a system of eating together without fighting.
I began to notice that Baby thought Dolly was his baby kitty. He watched over her and even seemed to protect her. One day Dolly was able to squeeze out of a window we had left partially opened. She was so small it wasn’t too hard for her, but of course the ever chubby Baby wouldn’t begin to fit. He ran to me and began to cry and cry. He would walk away and then back to me and cry. I finally got the idea he wanted something, so I followed him to the front door. I found Dolly on the other side of the door, crying to get back inside. What a good babysitter he turned out to be.
The two of them run all over the house together. The both sleep together in the same chair. When Dolly had surgery, the vet said she should be separated from Baby because he might accidentally hurt her, since she was still groggy. I put her in a special bed in the bathroom where she could sleep in peace. Baby cried and cried. The next morning when I went to check on her, I found Baby sleeping by her side, protecting her again. Somehow he had climbed to a window that led to the bathroom and pushed on the window until he got it open and crawled in to be at her side.
With so much love, Dolly has really grown. She is taller than Baby now. Of course, with so much special care, you could expect such growth. She has a safe house to live in. She has food. She has a special “body-guard” and she gets a lot of love.
That kind of reminds me of my church. I’ll explain. Dolly grew and is healthy because she had just the right ingredients. People in my church also grow because of the right ingredients. For instance, Dolly needs food. Christians also need food to grow spiritually. That food is what we call spiritual food. It is things like Bible study, sermons, worship services, discipleship classes, all that help a person understand more about God. When someone understands and acts more and more like God wants, we say that this person is growing spiritually.
Another thing that helps Dolly to grow are the games she plays with Baby, and the special friendship they share. People in church also need the attention of other church members. New Christians in the church need that kind of friendship in a special way. When someone new arrives at church, they are happier and more willing to return when others treat them kindly, like a friend. People in church should be friends. If the folks at church are fighting, or just don’t care about each other, you can be sure that church won’t grow. Just like Baby accepts and treats Dolly with respect and love, so people at church should treat one another.
Now I have a question for you. Are you helping your church grow? Are you growing spiritually by participating in Bible study and worship and other activities? Are you being a friend to others? Are you praying for the other members of your church? Is there someone in your church that you can help? I hope you are being a wonderful friend to others in your church, like Baby is being a wonderful friend to Dolly.
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