Ghost Cat

In the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” there is an exchange between Ben Stiller and Sean Penn’s characters that’s well worth the $1 you pay at Redbox.

Sean O’Connell (Penn) is a world-renowned photographer, sitting high in the mountains with his camera, poised and waiting for a shot of an elusive snow leopard. Walter, who has found Sean, is seated next to him as the big cat appears in the distance.

Sean: They call the snow leopard the ghost cat. Never lets itself be seen.

Walter: Ghost cat?

Sean: Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.

In the same scene…

Walter: When are you going to take it?

Sean: Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.

Walter: Stay in it?

Sean: Yeah. Right there. Right here.

In a time when clamoring for the attention of the moment seems to be so many’s greatest temptation, as people post how amazing their often mundane lives are, or how today’s selfie is so much better than yesterday’s, we need to keep in mind that men of God are often going to be … ghost cats … and, therefore, not need the attention.

And stay in the moment, right there, right here. Because we already have our Father’s attention, in every moment, right now.

I love the Lord because he hears my voice
 and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!  —Psalm 116:1-2 NLT