Parable of the Grateful Cat

by James E. Talmage ...

A scientist, out on a morning walk, encountered a pair of boys who, on their mistress's errand, were about to drown three unwanted kittens in a pond. The man saved the kittens and carried them home. He was followed by the mother cat, whose incessant purrrrrs indicated her immense gratitude for the man's kind interference.

The next evening, as the scientist was hosting "a notable company" of guests, the mother cat unexpectedly joined the company with a large, not quite dead mouse in her mouth. She deposited her "expiring pray at the feet of the man who had saved her kittens."

"What think you of the offering...? A live mouse, fleshy and fat! Within the cat's power of possible estimation and judgment it was a superlative gift. To her limited understanding no rational creature could feel otherwise than pleased over the present of a meaty mouse. Every sensible cat would be ravenously joyful with such an offering..."

But what is a dying mouse to a scientist at a dinner party? Utterly unprofitable.

King Benjamin, I believe, has already laid out the lesson of the cat
parable.

I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if
ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. Mosiah 2: 20-21

I am left simply to marvel at the eternal paradox that we who are so unprofitable to God are yet so loved by him.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

We who are so totally incapable of repaying God's glorious gifts and immense generosity are still, in his eternal eyes, so full of potential.

Behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Moses 1:39

True, God continually invites, encourages, commands our gratitude, service, and contribution - but not because it selfishly benefits him. Rather, because it so generously benefits us.

Certainly, in Elder Talmage's words, "our need to serve God is incalculably greater than His need for our service."

Such a realization makes all charitable demands on my time, my money, and my energy so much less resent-able. Perhaps I can, after all, muster the gumption to prepare another Primary lesson for my class of six wiggling 8-9-year-olds, remembering afresh that my efforts are not so much noble and generous as they are personally needful.