We have 3 cats. Last fall my husband built our cats a house of their own and as the temperatures dropped he also rigged up 2 heat lamps near the house and placed a thick old rug outside their door with 1 of those heat lamps up above that so that they could bask in the warmth when they were outside eating their food and it also kept their drinking water from freezing.

Our neighbors have a little beagle dog. For years now there has been an ongoing battle between the beagle and our cats. The old tom cat which is the daddy of our other 2 cats will take the lead in fighting the beagle. The beagle makes 2 daily rounds of our property to see if he by chance can get a nibble of our cat’s food.  Sometimes the dog wins and most times the tom cat wins. We think it is quite comical and just sit back and watch.

Last winter after my husband built such a fine mansion for our cats, there was about a 1 week span of time that the temperatures dropped way down to the frigid zone. My husband went out one early morning to feed the cats and they were no where in sight. It was freezing cold! He peeked in their house to see if they were in there and to his surprise, there lay the beagle all snuggled up with the 3 cats. We still talk about that in amazement.

Today at church the thoughts that inspire this writing just hit me.

The cats and the dog were arch enemies until the going got really rough and then they banded together to survive and make things work.

Jeremiah 6: 16-19 in the King James reads as follows:

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the old ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

What does this mean? I believe the key to this lesson is in verse 16. We are told by God to stand in the old ways and see. If we cannot see the right paths then we are to ask where the good old way is. There are many ways to be traveled but only one good way that has been around since ancient times and this is the way to God.

I got to thinking about all of this today in church in regards to the state of our world today. I will give you an example of what I have been thinking.

I know of 2 dear soldier friends that have been friends for years. One of the soldiers had many children and was very poor and the other soldier was in a position of means and ability to help the soldier with the many children. Many times in years past, the soldier of means would repair or fix things for the poor man and help ease his little family along. Today, many years later, these 2 men do not even speak now because of the different political views and the prejudges that they both hold. They have forgotten the joy and love that they once held for one another and both have become obsessed in their thinking that their way is the right way and the right path. Only God’s way is the right path to follow.

I hear so much riff raft spoken at my every turn these days and to be honest, I am just sick to my stomach about it. In my growing up years, I was taught that if you can’t say something nice, then just don’t say anything.

I read comments on Facebook that just blow me away! Somebody will just write their own personal opinion about something and others will just jump right in and say the ugliest, most ungodly things. I can understand why some people are choosing to delete their Facebook accounts or take days away from it. It is very depressing!

I feel that if we would pray for the issues and yield ourselves to finding the right ancient paths that our nation would heal and our souls would once again sing. We spend so much time in the negative and I try to write positive blogs that are uplifting but this time I just felt like I had to say these things.

America needs a cleansing, a healing, and a revival and it begins with each and every one of us that claim to be Christians. Our mouths need washing out and our minds needs a power washing. We need to get down on our knees and pray like we have never prayed before and I am speaking to me as well as to anyone else. Let’s quit scouring Facebook or the news looking for all the negative that is so easily found there and let us begin a crusade to see and find the good. Here is a picture that says it best:

Like the cats and the beagle, the going is now rough for us and it is time to put our battles to rest and find the warmth and the workable solutions to make the world a better place so we all can survive. Please stop this nonsense and get back to the old ways and find the right path and God will heal our land!