The Lazy Cat

As I was getting ready to enter the ninth grade, I decided I wanted a little freedom—and freedom, as I understood it, required money.

I have always had an independent streak, so I asked Mom and Dad if I could get a job. I would ride my Huffy ten-speed bicycle to work, make the grand sum of $3.35 an hour, and every Friday stop by Standard Savings and Loan to deposit part of my paycheck. Since I was volunteering to work and save money, my parents did not put up much of a fight.

I had connections at the Friendly Market produce stand, and that summer they hired me to load and unload trucks, stack produce, and carry groceries to customers’ cars.

My future brother-in-law worked there too, and he considered it his duty to keep me humble.

While we were unloading a watermelon truck, he would find a rotten melon and wait until I couldn’t see it. Then he would toss it to me. The moment I caught it, it would disintegrate all over my shirt, pants, and shoes. There are few things in this world nastier than wearing a rotten watermelon in ninety-degree heat.

Other days, I would arrive and find him stretched out in the cooler pretending to be asleep. Beside him would be a list of jobs he had thoughtfully prepared for me to do while he “rested.”

People say, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” If that were entirely true, after those summers I should have looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Apparently, the owners were pleased with my work because they invited me back that winter to work evenings and during Christmas break. We sold Christmas trees, made fruit baskets, and tried our best to stay warm.

The produce stand also had a cat named Colby. Her supposed responsibility was to keep the mice and rats away. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am not much of a cat person—and Colby may be one of the reasons.

I once read during COVID that cats could not spread the virus, but they probably would have liked to.

Colby was about as useless as teets on a boar hog. I watched a mouse run right in front of her one day. She opened one eye, looked at it, and rolled over as if chasing mice was not included in her employment contract.

We had a small room with a gas heater where the workers could warm up while watching through a window for customers. Someone placed a milk crate in front of the heater, folded a towel on top of it, and made Colby a bed.

One cold day, another fellow and I walked into the room and smelled something burning. We looked around and discovered that Colby’s hair was being singed by the heater. That lazy cat was getting cooked and would not even move!

The fellow reached down, flipped her over like a steak, and she barely acknowledged him. He finally moved the entire crate farther from the heater because Colby apparently decided that changing positions was entirely too much work.

Now, that is lazy.

It is funny when we remember a cat too lazy to move away from a heater, but laziness is not nearly as humorous when it begins to characterize our lives.

The Bible says: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15–16

Time is one of God’s greatest gifts, but it is also one of the few things we can never recover. Money can be replaced. Possessions can be restored. Opportunities may come around again. But once a day is gone, we cannot put it back on the calendar.

Proverbs describes the field of a slothful man as overgrown with thorns and covered with weeds. Then it warns: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber.” Proverbs 24:33–34

Most people do not ruin their lives all at once. It happens through “a little” neglect—a little more sleep, a little more delay, one more excuse, and one more opportunity wasted.

God did not save us so we could sit comfortably and watch the world pass by. He has given every Christian work to do, people to love, burdens to carry, prayers to pray, truth to share, and a gospel to proclaim.

Jesus said: “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4

There is nothing wrong with resting. Even Jesus withdrew to rest and pray. But biblical rest prepares us for service; laziness keeps us from it.

Maybe there is a phone call you need to make, someone you need to forgive, a ministry you need to join, a neighbor you need to help, or a person who needs to hear about Jesus. Do not keep saying, “Someday.” Someday has buried more opportunities than failure ever did.

Colby had to be flipped over like a steak because she was too lazy to save her own hide. Let us not become so comfortable that God has to turn up the heat before we finally move.

Whatever God has placed before us, let us do it faithfully. Our time is short, our calling matters, and today is a gift from God. Let’s get off the milk crate and use it.