My little girl cat often takes naps in my closet, on top of a box, underneath some of my hanging clothes. But earlier this summer, I noticed her creeping deeper into the closet to take naps near some taller, messier piles. I moved into my apartment in phases, and housecleaning isn’t my forte, so my closet has been kind of a disaster area. Over the past few years, I’d just toss in a new shipment of boxes or other memorabilia from my childhood into the closet, and it would collect dust and cat hair in storage. So, the little one would burrow into the cluttered depths, where she was not authorized to go, and I was concerned for her safety. So, last month, I cleaned out my closet a little bit. I removed most of everything off the floor and vacuumed the carpet. I threw a few things away and combined other things into one container. I replaced some containers and rearranged a little. It isn’t pristine, and it’s still cluttered, but it’s slightly more organized, slightly cleaner, and (at least to my eyes) much safer. Now my little cat can take naps in there without freaking me out.
The thing about cats is that they’re very routine-oriented creatures who tend to freak out if their routine changes in any way. My taking almost 3 hours to empty, clean, and rearrange my closet definitely busted my cats’ routine. While all this was happening, my big cat came to me, meowing/whining loudly. I picked him up, hugged him, and comforted him. My little girl cat settled onto my bed and lounged quietly while I sang to her with some music that I had playing in the background. (I think it was The Carpenters, but I don’t completely remember.)
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but God uses my cats to teach me and show me what He’s like. (Some people have children. I have cats.) I believe that in the same way that my cats were either freaking out or calmly enduring my closet-cleaning, and I delighted to comfort them and show them affection, God does the same thing anytime we respond to a metaphorical housecleaning, trauma/tragedy, or trial, etc. (See Psalm 34:18 and Zephaniah 3:17.) He wants to be near us, comfort us, and save us.
I love my cats. I don’t want anything bad to happen to them. I know they’re “just” cats, but they’re MY cats. I want them to stay with me for as long as possible, so I pray that God keeps them healthy and protects them. I think about them pretty frequently. In fact, I often catch myself imagining how I can serenade them. Yes, I’m a grown woman, and I like to sing to my cats. :”> I’m most aware of this anytime I’m at work and then I break my concentration by gazing at pictures of my cats. I daydream about how I can sing something new to them, and I want to pet them and show them affection even though I’m miles away and won’t be home for a while. When I’m with them, I tell them very frequently that I love them.
I dote on my cats. My Facebook friends are probably tired of me sharing pictures of my cats, but sorry, they’re part of my life, so anyone within earshot (even in cyberspace) is gonna get an earful. :) In fact, let me dote right now. Here is a picture of a snuggle time with my big orange cat several months ago.
It was winter, and he would come to me while I was on my computer and snuggle very close. (He’s got his arm draped around my hand there.) And here is a recent snapshot depicting a very typical scene of my little girl cat.
She likes to be as close to my computer as possible whenever I’m on it. (I’ve got my hand on her head there.)
Have I mentioned that I love my cats? You’re probably tired of hearing it. But my heart overflows with love for them. I love them because I’m their Mom, and they’re my cats. Nothing they could do could make me love them less or more. Whenever they show me love and affection, for example by snuggling close to me and/or purring and/or scraping my hand with their tongues, it delights me more than I can do justice to express with mere words. However, just because I love them doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want. Because they live in my household, they need to groom themselves, do their business in the litterbox, treat each other (and me) nicely, wear their collars, stay indoors, and stay away from unauthorized locations where they could damage themselves or my property (sinks, counters, the fireplace, etc.). Sure, there are some rules and guidelines to follow, and I train them and condition them to do so. I keep a close eye on them because foolishly disobeying me could cause them to hurt themselves. But other than that, they have freedom in my household to be the cats that they were designed to be. I love them, and want them to thrive.
I believe it’s the same way with God and His children. Jeremiah 29:11 says that He thinks good thoughts towards us. Isaiah 49:15-16 says He won’t forget us and that He has us engraved on the palms of His hands. John 3:16 says He loved us so much that He gave His only Son Jesus to die for us so we could have life with Him. (See also 1 John 4:10.) Isaiah 43:4 says we are precious and honored in God’s sight and that He loves us. 1 John 4:8 says that God IS love, and verse 19 says that we love because God loved us first! Verse 18 says that perfect love casts out/drives out fear! As I allow God to love me and make me into the woman He designed me to be, I become more and more secure in Him, I fear less and less, and I thrive.
When my little girl cat got spayed as a kitten, she had kind of a rough time. She got kind of obsessed with her stitches and started licking/scraping at them with her tongue until she got a stinky infection. She had to stay inside her cat carrier until she healed. (I was able to spend a lot of time with her because I was unemployed, but that’s another story.) She is a very social animal. I don’t think she enjoyed being separated from the world in that carrier, but she needed to stay in there so she could heal properly. I stayed with her and did all I could for her. Because she couldn’t snuggle with me at night like she usually did, I put her carrier on a table and scooted it close to my bed so she could be near me. I heard her purring in the darkness, and it made me happy. Years later, long after she’s healed just fine, I still remember those days fondly, and the cat carrier is like a second home to her. (Seriously. It usually doesn’t take much coaxing to get her to climb in there, even for a vet visit! My big cat is another story.)
Similarly, in Isaiah 43, God tells His people to fear not, for He has redeemed them. “You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.” When we belong to God and He does some housecleaning or if we experience trauma/tragedy or trial, He wants to be right there with us, healing us, helping us, and making sure we have everything we need. He loves us and wants to be with us, shower His love on us, and enjoy us loving Him back.
When God was healing me from depression, I needed to stop believing that I needed to do a whole bunch of stuff for God. This was a very gradual process, and it involved years of reading and thinking about Psalm 46, especially verse 10 (where God says, “BE STILL and know I am God”). I was so anxious anytime I wasn’t busying myself with doing stuff, and it was very healing for me to observe my cats’ life in my household. I noticed that they wouldn’t anxiously run up to me every few minutes and say, “WHAT DO I DO NOW, MOM?? IS IT TIME FOR ME TO GROOM MYSELF YET??? AM I SUPPOSED TO GO FIND A MOUSE NOW OR SOMETHING????” No way. They’re cats, so they do cat things whenever it’s time to do them. (Yes, they’re animals, and they live their lives by their instincts, and humans live their lives by their reason, and we Christians live our lives by faith, but the metaphor still helped me. See Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and Psalm 147:10-11.) In the first picture I shared above with my big orange cat, my little girl cat is in the background, just above the center and to the right -- not sure if you can tell, but she’s ASLEEP. She isn’t being lazy or irresponsible. She’s a cat. Cats nap frequently, so she’s taking a NAP. She’s RESTING.
It’s the same way with Christians! We belong to Jesus, we belong in God’s household, we belong in the Kingdom of God, so we do Kingdom things. We pray, read the Bible, tell people about our faith, go on mission trips, give to the poor, love our enemies, forgive those who wrong us, etc., because these are Kingdom things. Yes, we have a relationship with Father God who loves us, we seek His face, and we inquire in His temple (see Psalm 27:4), and we ask Him about His will and His timing and surrender everything to Him. But I really think the gist of it is that we live in His Kingdom, so we do Kingdom things whenever it’s time to do them. And yes, we REST, too.
Uh, have I mentioned that I love my cats? Thanks for reading, but if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for a snuggle session. :D
My very good friend Liz drove me to St. Louis, where we toured the City Museum and visited the Arch! It was a very hot, very sweaty day, but I had tons of fun. (And I’m thankful that all the sweat didn’t show up in the pictures.)
