This is Boo.And this is Ruby.

Both are cats we adopted from our local shelter in the last ten months. Boo was first. Boo was a wild thing. I mean, she was really, really nuts. She stole packages of floss and his them in a corner under the computer desk. She clawed at the carpet. She swiped at Kitty (our oldest cat). She would race around, leap onto an upholstered chair, dig her claws in, and roll her head and eyes around like a crazed lunatic. She jumped on everything, slept in my hair at night, made serious hunting noises at the birdies outside in the tree, and when the doorbell rang, she came running TOWARD the door like a dog (not away from it, like a cat.)

Then we found Ruby.

Ruby was little, and cuddly, and snuggly, and sweet. We brought her home, and Boo did NOT like that one bit. For three days, she hissed, and complained, and groaned, and ran away from that sweet little honey bun.

And on the fourth day, Boo relaxed. She started grooming Ruby and letting that fluffy little black ball snuggle up to her to sleep. When it was time to eat, Boo would stand back and let Ruby go first. And when Ruby tackled Boo to play, Boo kept her claws in like a good cat, and let Ruby win (most of the time.) She stopped stealing floss. She stopped swiping at Kitty. She sleeps at my feet (if she's not sleeping with Ruby). When I look at Boo now, there's nothing but peace behind those beautiful gold-green eyes.

It struck me one day that Boo's personality completely changed within a matter of a few days. We all loved the wild Boo, but we love the calm and almost Zen-like cat we now have. She is patient, and kind, and humble, and giving.

Anybody can make the decision to make changes in her life, and make them immediately. It was Shakespeare who said: "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie." Every day is a new chance for change!

One of my favorite Christian prayers is from St. Francis of Assissi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness; joy.

O divine Master

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Have a peaceful and lovely day.