TGIF
“MEEEESER….MEEESER KITTY… HEREKITTYKITTYKITTYKITTYKITTY…”
That’s me at some point every day, in front of my house, sounding like a moron.
I careth not how I sound, I only care that Miss Kitty appears out from under a bush or from behind a fence so that I may feed her and pour affection forth upon her.
Once she appears, I speak to her as a parent speaks to a toddler, lavishing praise and love upon her simply for showing up.
It has to look ridiculous and sound even worse.
I don’t care.
I love my cat.
Generally speaking, I love all cats.
I spend lots of time not only with my cat, but in feeding strays and attempting to convince them that I will love them too.
It takes months sometimes, but I never give up on a lost cat.
Cats being cats, they do not always reciprocate that affection in kind, but this troubles me little.
I appreciate what they do give and have much tolerance for times when they are cold, or even mean.
My beloved feline can be an inconvenience as well.
She often wakes me from a sound sleep to feed her…or simply because it suited her to be petted at 2:45 AM.
Sometimes, after waking me and being fed, she reawakens me by vomiting that food onto my bed an hour or so later.
This troubles me little as well…love is sometimes inconvenient and messy.
At the end of the day, (or a very long night) I am grateful for her company and will do anything to keep her safe, sound, and happy.
I am a cat person indeed.
The problem with this is that as a Christian, I’m primarily supposed to be a “people” person.
I’m not.
While I will spend myself in the service of a stray cat, I will exert as much of myself to avoid stray people.
When forced to extend like mercy to humans, it is uncomfortable and fraught with conditions.
I do not suffer fools gladly, nor wish to suffer them at all.
Inconvenience me and I will assure you that you have done so.
Make too many messes and I will discard you like last weeks recyclables.
You will not have the opportunity to vomit on my bed because you’re not coming in my house.
You might disturb my cat…
I am thankful that Jesus treats me like I treat cats…and not how I treat humans.
He calls me without regard to how I make Him look.
He loves me, though I rarely reciprocate in kind.
He is patient with my foolishness and cleans up my messes.
He has done whatever is necessary for my eternal well being.
He’s asking me to be like Him.
I’m a cat person…
Make your own application…
A prodigal cat-lover?
?
Meow. Love this post. …. totally get the disrupted sleep and midnight cafe.
….. and possibly having less patience with unruly humans….
Really? God loves me the way I love my cat/s? Gotta think about that.
Personally, I wouldn’t say you sound like a moron just because you’re seeking your cat. You just sound like a cat person. Anyone who thinks you sound like a moron is obviously not a cat person.
Also have to say that I can’t come up with any other applications for this – you’ve already made the best one. A very humbling one at that. Thank you.
The next question I see is – should we be more like dogs in regards to God, then?
Owen,
You’ll have to ask a dog person… 🙂
Michael, you’ll be okay… unless you start locking them all up in your house… then you might get on reality TV and embarrass all of us 🙂
that said, i can’t think of better picture of us and God… if i can’t see how one can go goofy over cats, i for sure have trouble seeing how God can love us so unconditionally … except for that one question we’ll all have to give an account of in one form or another… Matt 22:42
I wrote this the other day after laying on the sidewalk for an hour speaking into rosebushes trying to convince a stray that I wouldn’t harm him.
He was a very expressive, talkative cat…when cats “meow’ that is expressly a language they use for humans.
He wanted me to know of all his misery and trials…and I was there to listen, there to help.
I’m not sure I would have given the time and discomfort to a person…so I came to confess my sin amongst the brethren. 🙂
Probably somewhere in between “Oh, you’re here? Good, my food dish is empty, take care of it , will you? And not that dry stuff either.” (cat) and ” Yay! Kibble again! He loves me!!” (dog).
(The theological implications of cat-thinking and dog-thinking”……Nope, I just don’t think I’m qualified for that one…)
Owen… yes. On the dog analogy….
Every day when I come home from work, I have three wiggly butt dogs who think I am the greatest thing since sliced lunchmeat. They are so excited to see me, and I spend a good 5 minutes loving on them. Then I take the trash out, for 30 seconds and when I come in… It’s mostly the same. I am a dog person, and they are the best.
Cats try to bite me for no reason… I don’t want to be like that to God, but sometimes I am…. make your own conclusion.
one thing that i’ve observed in defense of cats (they still annoy me, if they’re in my house)… if your cat is a mouser, it will share with you… your dog? get your own food, bud…
now that may be because dogs are smarter than cats and they know that you’re quite able to do that – dunno – 🙂
so many good applications to the animals interaction with their gods (us) and ours to The God… we, who follow Michael’s blog here, are all indebted to Miss Kitty for life lessons… errr, make that indebted to Michael for sharing them… sorry
I’m primarily a dog person but I love ’em all. Lots of feral cats here and one has been a real friend to both my dog and me. They all love my dog though.
I busted up laughing at the thought of Michael standing in front of his house looking and acting like a “moron”. That is so me. My dog goes with me everywhere except when it’s too hot and I have to go in someplace for more then two minutes. When she waits for me in the car she demands tongue kisses upon my return. I oblige while people in the parking lot look at me in disgust. I couldn’t care less what they think as they would probably think it anyway. I do care very much what my dog thinks.
BTW: I never get sick like all the germaphobes 🙂
Em, I suspect if you’re gonna start saying dogs are smarter than cats, you might wanna take cover…to some people, them’s fightin words.. 😉
The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that maybe God does want us to be more like cats than dogs – yes, dogs have blind faith in their humans, but they often behave as though they have no choice in the matter, like they are wired for faithfulness.
Cats, I think, have more of a mind of their own. So when they do return love and affection, it’s by choice.
Just my own musings…..
c2p – I have always heard that a dog’s mouth is usually less germ-y than a human’s mouth!
Owen, i’ve only got one reply to that… if a bad guy comes into your house, who do you want defending you, your cat or your german shepherd? LOL
Michael is quite gracious about my animal preference as i am about his 🙂 there are times when i’d swear that he is my youngest daughter’s twin brother (another cat lover) – one of her cats realizes that i won’t kill it and would take it to the vet, if need be – the other cat isn’t so sure
the last 3 years that i have spent getting to know horses convince me that they’d be my animal of choice – not for a house pet, tho
no cat or dog kisses for me – period!
Get a dog. They love unconditionally and just want to be your friend.