My Kitty Lets Me Love Her

Psalm 32:10b - The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. (NIV 2011)

During the winter months the first thing I do every morning is put wood in the fireplace. While I am doing so, my kitty stands at my feet and meows. I have come to know exactly what she wants. She is waiting for me to finish my work and then sit in the rocking chair close to the fire. As soon as I sit down, she jumps into my lap, flips herself upside down, and rests in my arm -- much like a nursing baby. I stroke her chin and rub her tummy while she basks in the warmth of the fire. During those moments, she is the perfect picture of contentment and trust -- just letting me love her. I consider it an honour to be trusted and appreciated -- even if it is by my kitty.

Yet she has some downsides: She is a freeloader; she sharpens her claws on our furniture; she sheds hair; and she often whines for attention. Sometimes, we must chastise her. Sometimes, we simply accept her cattish ways.

My kitty is treated royally, even though she does not contribute economically. Her food is served in a Royal Dalton Beatrix Potter bowl. Visitors have been appalled to see a costly china bowl being used for a cat. But why not? If I want to give her a bone china bowl, who's to say I can't?

My kitty is a visual illustration of a spiritual truth. She helps me understand what it means to let God love me: to receive His love, and simply trust Him -- just like my kitty trusts me.

It is not easy for me to let myself be loved by God. I tend to think that I should be busy doing something to earn His love, or I need to improve in some way so that I can be more deserving, or I dwell on how I can get my own needs met instead of trusting in the goodness of God. Perhaps deep inside, I fear that if I fully abandon myself to God, He might not be there for me. It is an issue of faith.

Nevertheless, God keeps drawing my focus back to Himself. He keeps on treating me royally -- because He wishes to.

Prayer: Lord, I plead for the power to let You love me -- to enjoy nothing more than resting contentedly in Your arms surrounding me, no matter how others treat me or what is going on. Help me to see that by letting you love me, I bring delight and honour to You. Amen.

Diane

Hmm. That was interesting. I had an experience years ago in which i could sense something eery and spiritual-spooky going on behind the scenes but no proof of it, in that my grandmother's cat pooped all over me when i picked it up. As the cat leaped out of my arms i was sprayed; it was as if i had squeazed a tube of toothpaste. I immediately thought quietly, 'Ohhh, the poor thing is sick....dysentary' and am so thankful i was not angered that day because i think it factored in some way (spiritually)...

I was wearing a nice blouse and dress shorts. The green smelly diarrhea ran all the way down me. Oh did it stink!!
Putrid!!
I had been about to leave my grandmother's and drive 200 miles back to where i lived. But as i got in the car and took hold of the seat belt i abhorred the thought of it touching my filthy, smelly blouse and the stench being in the car with me the rest of my days! So i decided not to wear it but then had the thought, 'Sure, this will be the ONE DAY i get in an accident...' . About an hour later that is exactly what happened.

The year was 1993 and i was a sinner.

One hour after i left Grandma's, there was a black bird flapping in the road as though it had an injured wing. Had the cruise control of my Buick Skylark on. Saw the bird and began to brake. The car suddenly became as if possessed and took on a life of it's own, fish-tailing wildly all over the road...i was on a bridge...on an overpass...

I do not know why the car began fish-tailing but i'm pretty sure it had something to do with some defect in the cruise control.

The miracle of that day was that there was no other car on the bridge at that moment...on that Sunday evening.

I knew from training what to do when you fish tail but never dreamed i would ever have the need for that knowledge. I was so glad i paid such close attention in my highschool driver's ed class. It was a long bridge and it was like riding a bucking bronc that day. But even the best cowboys have to be bucked off at some point.

So...me and the bridge finally met... nearly head on (the left front). Which, i think now, was actually better than if i had slid along it or hit it with my hind end and been flipped or something. People told me the car was "totaled" and quite smashed in.

But right before i hit that bridge i was sure i was going right thru it to fall hundreds of feet below to the highway beneath. And my very last thought was to surrender to my fate and say to myself, 'Oh well, now i get to meet God'. I really thought i would.

That crash happened June or July of 1993. In October 1993
i got saved. But not because of the crash in any way. I didn't care too much whether i lived or died. I had already tried to kill myself back in May of that year.

Nonetheless, i look back on that after being a Believer now and to this day i know there was something going on in the spiritual realm that day. I sensed it with the cat even BEFORE the crash, and i sensed it with the bird...something spooky. And i have always thought, maybe that is the way God looked on me in my sin...vile, smelly, disgusting, full of
filth...just dripping with it. Maybe because i showed compassion on the cat that day for crapping all over ME, God graciously showed compassion to me in return despite all the filth of my life and let me live (?)

Isn't it fascinating to see how stories resonate with people? I admit, I wasn’t expecting to conjure up memories of a demonized cat. I do trust, Trekker that you will see God more and work in your life and all around you, as you continue to walk with him.

Overall, it seems that many people can more easily relate to natural pictures than to abstract theological discourse. Actually the reading was used on the meditation site. I received a surprising volume of responses which tells me, overall, that many of God’s people need encouragement in this very area of trusting God.

I wouldn’t mind your prayers. I'm expected to provide another lot of meditations soon, and I need inspiration. I seem to gravitate towards the "heavier" stuff – for my own interests, perhaps. Maybe SI is my avoidance strategy. Pray that God will give me a heart for people – and to truly minister into their lives.

For now, I’ll post a sequel which I just finished – try it on for size here…

Diane

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV, 2011

Imagine a terrified cat trapped in a tight space - the space between a ceiling and the floor above it. That’s exactly where we found our cat one day. Now this is not the contented cat I wrote about earlier – the one who showed what it means to rest contentedly in God’s love.

Today I am talking about an anxious cat which had no ability to trust. And oh the troubles it caused her, along with frustration and grief to us! Her anxiety caused her to do things that endangered her safety, like on this day. The ceiling space was full of sharp nails protruding down from the floor above. She would get hurt by them if she moved quickly. Yet, when my husband, who had pulled away some ceiling tiles to get to her, reached in to help her, she retreated further back. Her anxiety held her in a terrible tight grip. We could not help her. So we left her alone.

She eventually came out; but the tragedy is that she never got to experience those loving arms drawing her to safety. She missed a wonderful opportunity to build trust and to enjoy sweet companionship with her owners.

The lesson here is easy to see, isn’t it? We understand the gripping power of anxiety. We know how fear can harm us and deprive us of blessings. Just like for our cat, anxiousness can prevent us from letting God love us; and then we miss out on sweet fellowship with him.

Our cat would hide whenever we had company. We too find ways to avoid the potential for anxiety. But that is not a life of victory. Thankfully, God has given us a provision to help us rise above our anxieties and live victoriously in the presence of threatening circumstances. That is how we become a convincing witness of God’s power and his trustworthy love.

We read in 1 Peter: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6

Did you catch the main verb here? The instruction is: “Humble yourselves”. That suggests to me that pride, not our fears or circumstances, is the actual obstacle to overcome.

Next time you or I encounter an experience that causes us anxiety, let us consider it as God’s opportunity to teach us to trust more deeply in him and wait on him to draw us to safety.

Perhaps this could be our prayer:

Prayer: Lord, I know that you truly do care for me; and I have no just cause for anxiety right now. Please help me to overcome my pride and any faulty notion that I alone must control my life. And now, O Lord, I wait for you to lift your hand on my behalf in due time.

humble (adj.)
mid-13c., from O.Fr. humble, earlier humele, from L. humilis "lowly, humble," lit. "on the ground," from humus "earth."

The connotation is that we came from dirt so don't forget that and by they way, to dirt we shall return.

Pilgrim

Was just thinking about this this morning.

Sometimes when praying my cat will sneak up on me and scare the tar out of me. I'll be praying with my eyes closed when the house is silent, the kids are still sleeping, and all of a sudden I'll feel something touch my face and purr. Since it's usually cold I'll turn on the electric blanket and she will curl up in a ball on my lap purring so loud that you could hear it upstairs, well at least until my legs fall asleep and I have to move anyway.

This morning, my legs were going numb (from trying not to disturb the cat who is asleep in my lap) and I told the Lord, "Father, make me like this cat in your arms".

I learn so much from His creation that it never ceases to amaze me :-)

All neat stories.

p.s. I was not implying the cat was demonized. But who knows.