TGIF
Smokey had yet to come in for breakfast, so like the good cat dad that I am, I went out to call him in to eat.
He heard me call and was emerging from the shrubbery across the street when a mom and her little boy were passing by on a morning walk.
The boy made a beeline for Smokey and bent down to pet my wild guy.
“Be careful…he’s got wounds all over him and he might scratch you!”
His mom came over and whispered, “he’s autistic and ADD…he’s amazing with cats”.
I wasn’t sure what that meant…but Smokey was letting the youngster pet him.
The mom and I started conversing about all the neighborhood felines and how they knew that I fed many of them.
The little boy stopped petting the Big Smoke and was turning toward us…and Smokey reached out a claw and nailed him.
The child though, was smiling from ear to ear, despite a bleeding scratch.
“I know who you are…you’re the cat man”!
His mom started sinking into the pavement as the boy finished his thought…”and I’m just like you!”
As his mom inspected the scratch, Cinnabon came bounding up the sidewalk and I knelt down to pick her up and introduce her to the boy.
She bounded right past me and straight to the boy.
Miss Kitty emerged from the house for her morning constitutional and …went straight to the kid.
Smokey was sitting by his shrubbery waiting for the boy to return.
I was in the presence of someone special.
I was in the presence of joy as the cats swirled about the child’s legs and he petted and received them all.
I apologized for Smokey, but the boy would have none of it.
“He was just trying to bring me back…he doesn’t have thumbs, so he has to use a claw. He knows I love him now, so we’re friends. We’ll always be friends.”
They started walking back to their house around the corner…with Cinnabon following behind.
Cats don’t follow anybody….usually.
I have pondered this encounter for a week…a boy with “disabilities”, and a secret super power.
The power of love.
Love that produces a joy that can’t be contained.
Love that doesn’t count consider injury or offense.
Love that is so real it’s contagious and draws its recipients out from wherever they are.
Love that lifts everyone and everything it touches.
Love that makes you want to follow the loving one everywhere they go.
This little boy was much more like Someone else I know than like me…
I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stick with cats…people don’t respond as well.
Make your own application…
May we all be that “disabled”….
Owen…amen and amen…
you didn’t have the heart to tell him to stick with cats, but perhaps had you done so, he would have offered the same type of wise response you received on the other topics. I have a hunch he’s pretty consistent…
thanks for sharing this–it underscores a key difference in love vs. duty/responsibility. We often pass duty off as love, but it is essentially unalike. It’s the unconditionality and purity–apart from judgment or requirement that makes love so special and rare.
Amen Owen…
What an amazing encounter, Michael. There is something about selfless innocence that reminds us of the Divine.
From “Ragamuffin Gospel”: āā¦ the Iroquois Indians attributed divinity to retarded children, gave them an honored place in the tribe, and treated them as gods. In their unself-conscious freedom they were a transparent window into the Great Spiritāinto the heart of Jesus Christ who loves us as we are and not as we should be, in the state of grace or disgrace, beyond caution, boundary, regret, or breaking point.ā
This is one of my favorite TGIF. Thank you.
fil,
I’ll have to ponder this…sometimes love is a duty…but that unconditionality and purity are what bring the joy…I think…
JoelG,
Thank you…and that’s a wonderful story you shared about the wisdom of Native Americans…
Oh to show Christ to the world that way – sigh
My late husbands father had that affect on children… In a gathering of strangers, with no effort on his part, the children would gather round him wanting to talk to him… A tall, rather portly, balding old guy… He was always kind to theml
So….
Michael is the neighborhood cat man, huh? So is our next door neighbor up here – that and deer, the darn fence destroying deer! Cats are okay, though – mouse enemies .. š
Em,
We are close to considering deer rodents here…so many…
Michael,
It seems that God has bestowed that austistic boy the title “Cat Whisperer” and has given you an apprentice to train and to pass your mantle to when God calls you home.
In honor of that austistic boy and all other special needs children (and those who are now adults), I present this:
Love truly conquers all…what an endearing story in light of all thatās happening in the world today. And Jesus said itās the most important.
Love this, Michael!
Thanks for the story, Michael, and filbertz, thank you for this:
thanks for sharing thisāit underscores a key difference in love vs. duty/responsibility. We often pass duty off as love, but it is essentially unalike. Itās the unconditionality and purityāapart from judgment or requirement that makes love so special and rare.
pslady, Linnea, OTF…thank you.
OTF…I thought fil left us a little gold as well…