TGIF
The things you’ll learn if you pay attention…
It was lunch time for the cats…I knew this because Chloe burst through the door with much fanfare and noise.
She was hungry and wanted food now…not in a minute.. not in a while…now.
She was going to make noise and thrash about until I filled the dish.
I got up and did as she demanded just to have some peace in the house.
As usual, she ended up with some of her lunch on her head as she hates waiting for me to fill the dish and starts munching while I’m emptying the can.
She ate, then went on about her feline business and Wheezy slid in the door after her.
He sounds like he needs to quit smoking…but I’ve learned to discern between his asthmatic mew and my own.
Wheezy always looks at me like he’s not sure I’m going to feed him, even though he’s never been denied here.
He’s uncertain up to the point where his dish is full, then he eats like I’m going to take it away from him.
Once those two were fed I went back to work on some online projects.
After a bit, I got up to get some coffee and noticed Smokey sitting by his bowl.
I don’t know how long he had been there, but it may have been a while.
He said nothing…he simply sat in peace…waiting.
There was no sense of urgency or anxiety…he knew he was in the right place with the right person and lunch would be served.
It was…and he had a leisurely lunch followed by nap.
Meal times for cats involve something akin to prayer.
They are dependent on me to provide and I wait for them to ask.
How they ask is what is interesting.
Chloe thinks she will be heard because she is loud and demanding.
Wheezy is never sure I will answer.
Smokey has learned that all his has to do is be present and his human papa will provide.
All three get fed…
I thought about ending this with “be like Smokey”…but Smokey used to act just like the other two.
It is only because Smokey has spent day after day with me that he has learned that I can be trusted.
He has learned that he is loved and it’s my joy to provide for him.
He’s in the right place with the right person…and all will be well.
Now, he just likes to hang out with me…even when he’s not hungry.
Be like Smokey.
Make your own application…
To find a loving safe place/person in this world is one of life’s greatest blessings.
Yeah. This. “Smokey used to act just like the other two.”
How did human papa’s love for Smokey change, if at all, based on Smokey’s behavior? Do you “feel” more affection for him now? Did you pity him more earlier? Just curious how you are making your own application. Cheers and happy Friday!
Donner,
Good questions.
I love cats.
Period.
That affection doesn’t change with their behavior…even when I have to “discipline” them if they are harming each other, all I want is the best for them.
I’m not as good with people…
Many years ago I worked with refugee children who had lived in camps in Kenya (they kids themselves were Somali). They would hoard food because they had never been food secure. One of the preschool teachers punished a child for doing this, and I went over to talk to her about that child’s experiences (getting food that was pushed out of a truck once a week and if you didn’t grab it all, you didn’t get any) and how he was often hungry. in his old world. We don’t always understand what it is to have enough love, food, whatever else we need due to our circumstances. If we are learning to trust God, it can be a long road to complete trust in His provision for our every need.
Linn,
I’m still learning…
Another great lesson…🙂
Sorrowfully, folks dump their unwanted pets up here. They get hit by cars and trucks and we get to scoop them out of the ditches and bury them….. had to bury a pregnant doe last week.
BTW, who drives winding mountain roads at 50 and 60 mph? We have a 45 mph posted speed limit? ? ?
I drive 35mph because the thought of hitting one of God’s beautiful creatures is more than I can bare. Yes I pull over and let the nuts go by as they ride my bumper and if I brake for an animal they’d drive right though my rear…
Vent over
P.S. we put food out for our feral cats, too… Poor creatures
pslady…thank you!
Em,
We have those sort of driving folks here as well…they don’t understand that a deer coming through your windshield means you’re dead too…
👍
Michael,
I regret to say that I do not share your love for cats in fact I have always found them to be curious creatures. I have always had a thing for dogs and a multitude of other animals but there has always been something freaky about cats and I just haven’t been able to shake it.
Having said that however we currently are the caretakers of two (mostly wild) cats on the farm we rent in CA. The dear old saint that we rent the farm from made me promise her to feed the cats. Desiring to be a man of my word and out of a love for the dear old soul, each morning I go to the back door off of the service porch to look out the window and find two felines sitting on the back porch looking up at the window anxiously awaiting their morning meal. I go outside and call them Guys, or Frick and Frack or Bert and Squirt whatever I am in the mood to call them at the moment as I give them their daily dose of kibble.
They have warmed up to me to the point that now they will come up to my hand as I put the food down, but any movement whatsoever other than withdrawing my hand invokes a hasty, skittish retreat post haste. I don’t waste a lot of time on this and leave them to their breakfast wishing them well for the day.
Having said all this I got a pretty interesting lesson from the Lord last year that centered around Bert and Squirt and I thought I would share it.
It was a summer evening and I had decided to take a walk after dinner. I was walking down an farm road between two orchards of peaches, one on the right and one on the left when I caught a little movement out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough it was Bert and Squirt lurking in the peach orchard and they had heard me. I stopped and called them to me but they just stood there looking at me. If I took a step toward them they would take several steps away and no matter what I did they were completely determined to stay just far enough away from me so as not to have any contact. Now mind you, just several hours before that they were on the porch and followed me into the well house to get their breakfast, follow me to where I set the food down no more than 15″ to 24″ away and came up to my hand as I set the food down but now I couldn’t have gotten within 30 yards of them at all. They weren’t completely abandoning me…they would be back the next morning for breakfast, they just didn’t want to get too close to me until they wanted/needed something from me.
As I walked away, I wondered how many of God’s people treat Him the same way…All goo goo eyed and flowery when they want/need something but as soon as the desire is met they won’t get within a country mile of Him. Their not leaving Him they just don’t want to get too close…at least not until they need something again.
Then I wondered how God must feel about the whole thing. Does He feel like me? Kinda used? Kinda taken for granted? Kinda like a meal ticket?
Then I wondered how many times I have behaved in the same way as Bert and Squirt…In fact in what ways am I still behaving in like manner? Maybe more than I would like to admit.
Anyways, I will never forget the lesson and I hope I learned from it.
Thanks for all you do…keep up the good work.
Grace and peace! EB
This is so convicting, I’m wheezy never trusting God, always doubting, always throwing theology and scripture to justify my selfish skepticism. This story is so like the scripture about Mary and Martha.
Eric,
Thanks for the comment…and your own parable.
I will tell you one thing about cats…if you think they’re freaky they can sense that…but God bless you for feeding them anyway.
Grace and peace to you as well…
Robin,
We all spend time in that space…
Best prayer for doubt (IMO)
“Lord I believe,BUT help my unbelief!”