My Cat is a Parasite: Considering Give-and-Take

Don't get me wrong, our cat is cute and all. But if a parasite is an organism that harmfully feeds off another without giving anything in return, Miss Willow fits the bill. Well, almost. In exchange for all the time and money we spend on her upkeep, she's benevolent enough to offer a never ending supply of fur, dander, and feces.

This revelation regarding our freeloading fur-ball caused me to think back to a high school biology lesson on symbiosis. It occurred to me that it may be possible to categorize the important relationships in my life using the terms that scientists have coined for interspecies interactions.

Allow me to demonstrate:

3 Major Types of Symbiosis More Info »
MUTUALISM	Mutually beneficial relationship
Example: Karen and I. Caring for my daughter gives me joy. As she's cared-for, she continues to grow and defy the laws of cuteness.
COMMENSALISM	One organism benefits and the other is hardly affected
Example: My Neighbor and I. My next-door neighbor volunteers her time to manage the gardening in our development. I do nothing for her in return. Shucks, that makes me sound horrible... I did give her a tin of cookies at Christmas.
PARASITISM	One organism benefits and the other is harmed
Example: My Cat and I. She eats, poops, and vomits. I buy her food and clean up her mess. If leeches had fur and whiskers I guess we'd keep them as pets too.

Evaluating the give-and-take in our relationships can be a healthy exercise. As we consider our needs and the needs we help fulfill in others, we can weigh-out the areas where we may be off-balance. In the case of my neighbor, I'd like to get to know her better and figure out how I can be a blessing in her life. The store-bought cookies don't seem to cut it.

Here are a few types of relational unbalance that come to mind:

Worthy of Love

Apparently children can't wrap their minds around the idea of their personal reflection until somewhere around 15 or 18 months of age. That means my 3-month-old daughter can't comprehend that she's looking at herself when she tracks her own baby blues in the mirror.

With this in mind, I can't help but wonder what she's thinking when she sees her reflection.

If we could translate her baby thoughts, would she say to herself, "Hello, little friend! You're cute. I like you!"

Or rather, "Ugh, those thighs. Girl, you oughta be drinking skim!"

When I think back to my own childhood, I'm not sure how old I was when I began to feel shame about my appearance. At some point in time, my focus in the mirror drifted away from the spinning ruffles of my dresses and settled on the bump on the bridge of my nose, the moles on my skin, and the way my calves seemed so stubby compared to everyone else's.

I'd like to say that I left those insecurities behind in my gel-penned journal pages from junior high, but if I'm honest, I still struggle. In moments of weakness, I still wonder if my shortcomings render me unworthy of love.

As a reminder for myself and a prayer for my daughter, I studied Psalm 23 this morning in light of God's all-sufficient love: