Lifelong misconceptions.... How sad!

Since I posted Teddi's first trick video, exactly a month ago (click here to read and see) some of you have got in touch by email to ask whether he's learned any other tricks since then, or whether my cat training efforts were just a flash in the pan! Especially for those readers, Teddi's newest trick (High Five - which he's learned over the past couple of days) is showcased in a short video at the end of this blog post.

I have to confess that Teddi's progress, even though he's only beginning his trick training at the ripe old age of four years old, has caused me to reflect on the fact that it's possible to believe something your whole life long, without ever realising that you're believing something untrue.

I've had a few dogs in my lifetime: a couple of Border Collie types, and a couple of Irish Setters. Apart from the first one, who was the family dog before I was born, I got my other dogs when they were six-week-old puppies, and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them all the dog obedience basics, as well as a few other things for fun. It continually fascinated me that a puppy of two or three months old could already understand so many words and commands. I've had a couple of cats in my lifetime too.... but people always told me that cats were different. "Cats are more independent than dogs," I was told. "There's no point trying to teach them anything, because they'll just do their own thing anyway."

Well, I've seen cats do clever stuff in movies, so I guess I imagined that some kind of training was possible.... but I thought that it was probably the domain of those animal training experts in Hollywood. My experience with my own cats (except for a short season when Tibo was tiny and played fetch because she probably thought she was a border collie like the others) has generally confirmed the impression that they like to sleep, eat and be brushed, and aren't particularly interested in stretching their brains and learning to do clever stuff on command. How wrong can we be! I have to smile whenever I ask Teddi, "Shall we practise some tricks?" and he leaps up all enthusiastic, and comes purring at the thought of earning some treats.

Sadly, there are more serious areas of life where it's possible to live with lifelong misconceptions. There are people out there who don't believe that God is real or that it's possible to know Him in a personal way in the 21st century. And so these people spend their whole lives believing a lie, and never taking the step of inviting God to be at the centre of their lives.

Perhaps even more sad than that is the fact that there are Christians who have taken the step of inviting God into their lives, and yet they continue to live with lifelong misconceptions about what He is like: perhaps they doubt His justice or His faithfulness; maybe they don't really believe that He loves them or wants to provide for them; perhaps they imagine that it's not possible to hear His voice or to experience His presence on a daily basis. And so they miss out! Their doubts and wrong beliefs mean that they don't pray, they don't trust, they don't involve God in their lives in any meaningful kind of way from day to day.

My misconceptions about the motivations and abilities of cats didn't majorly affect the course of my life. But misconceptions about who God is and how He wants to relate to us can have a huge impact on how we experience life - both now in the present, and also for the rest of eternity. How sad!

The interesting thing about misconceptions and misbeliefs is that, no matter how sincerely you believe them, no matter how convinced you are that they're right, your sincerity can never change the fact that you're believing something untrue. That may not be all that important if your wrong belief is about cats.... but if your wrong belief is about God, or about yourself, or about other people... that's a pretty big deal, and it can make a really big difference in your life.

No wonder the Bible speaks so much about truth. Jesus called Himself "the Truth," and said that the Holy Spirit would lead us into "all truth." He also said (John 8:32) that when we know the truth, that truth will set us free.

Let's ask God to show us if there are any areas where we have been living with lifelong misconceptions. He's the only One that can help us know what is really true.

So, in conclusion, here's the clip you've been asking for : further evidence of my lifelong misconception about the training potential of cats. Enjoy the show!