Wait. Is it time to eat yet?

I often blog about my cats. And I also blog about food. But now, I'm going to blog about... wait for it... cat food.

Recently, I brought home a new bag of food for my cats. They seemed very interested in the bag right away, but they needed to finish their old food before it was time for me to feed them their new food. I also recently noticed some holes in the bag and that the area around the holes was moist. I had a suspicion of how the bag got this way. And while I was taking pictures to document the bag because I got an idea for a blog post...

...Macho validated my suspicion by boldly interrupting my photo shoot and chewing and licking the bag. Um, kitty, if you had waited like 20 more minutes, you could have had your food served right into your bowl, right under your nose, right where you could readily access it and enjoy it.

This isn't a bag of cheap Wal-Mart cat food. (I don't even shop regularly at Wal-Mart. I don't even like Wal-Mart. Years ago, I used to blog about how much I dislike Wal-Mart. If you're curious about my opinion, please check out my reposted post.) Choochie won't even touch Wal-Mart cat food anymore. She can tell the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff.

Yes, this is a bag of specialty cat food that I bought at the vet for over $30. (It was prescribed after Macho had some boy-cat issues a few months ago, but that's another story.) Purina One makes a nice cheaper substitute that my cats seem to enjoy, but I don't think they ever chewed through a bag like this. And I've never seen my cats chew through a bag of cheap Wal-Mart cat food. No, they know that this $30+ bag of specialty vet food is the real deal.

"The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." (Psalm 145:15-16)

I don't usually feed my cats straight out of my hand, but I thought it would be a great way to illustrate Psalm 145:16. It's a blurry photo because there was a lot of hungrily frantic commotion. Choochie is the mixed-Siamese blur on the left, and Macho is the orange blur who's scarfing down his food on the right. Oh, it delights my heart just to see this photo! It delights me so much to feed my cats what they need. Their diet isn't cheap. It's a cocktail of three different foods that I feed them in different quantities at different times of the day. I kind of obsess over feeding them. They have food that helps their teeth, hairballs, and boy-cat issues. If Macho eats too much, he won't keep it down. If Choochie doesn't eat on time, acid reflux will torment her. The cheap Wal-Mart stuff doesn't give them shiny coats. You can call me a crazy cat lady if you want, but my cats are my babies. I love them, I value them, I want to take good care of them, and I want to give them the very best. I usually feed them in bowls, though. Feeding them straight out of my hand requires a lot of gentleness and patience on my part.

After I wrote most of the first draft of this post and thought I had plenty to share, something new happened. One evening while I was behind the closed bathroom door, I heard noises that sounded like the cats were playing with one of their toys. When I emerged from the bathroom, I saw the following horrifying scene outside the door.

If I'm out of container space, I store cat food taped up in its original bag on the floor. What was left of the taped-up $30+ bag of specialty cat food had somehow been dragged five feet and had entirely new, moist chomp marks. Macho was nearby wearing his halo. So, I stuffed this bag remnant into a couple of Target bags and closed it up safely in a closet. Gosh! Either the pet-food company needs to make sturdier bags, or $30+ is an excellent investment in something that Macho can really sink his teeth into. (Maybe it's a good thing I didn't get the extra-large $50+ bag.)

Now I'll talk about people food. Several years ago, I traveled with family to visit relatives that lived in a city about two or three hours away. We ate breakfast before we left, and we arrived at my relatives' house around lunchtime. However, our relatives didn't make any mention of any lunch plans. The people I traveled with, in my opinion, were being way too polite to inquire about any lunch plans. My stomach and I became pretty darn anxious about the fact that nothing was being done about any lunch plans. So, we didn't eat lunch. We just visited relatives while hungry. I guess our relatives assumed that we ate lunch on the road. The minutes turned into hours, and my hunger distracted me, consumed me, devoured me. How the heck was I supposed to enjoy my relatives when all the heck I could think about was when the heck I was going to eat again? We even drove to the store to buy food to make dinner, and I don't remember stopping on the way to grab a bite to eat. I don't remember if we were allowed to nibble on some junk food to stop the hunger pains. I just remember going along with the rest of the relatives and politely keeping my peace about how starving I was. I don't think it would have been rude to have said something like, "I haven't eaten lunch yet. Would you mind if I swung by the burger place on the corner and grab something? I can pick up a burger for you, too, if you like. Be right back!" This was a frustrating situation for me. In my opinion, the people who traveled with me made me wait unnecessarily to satisfy my hunger.

As a result, now anytime I travel or make any type of extended plans with anybody, I'm very deliberate about mealtimes. "So, are we going to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner? If not, I'm gonna swing by somewhere and grab some tacos." Unless there's a God-initiated fast going on, this chick's gotta eat. Heck yeah, I wanna know when I'm gonna get to satisfy my hunger. When can I eat my food?

I think this was the cry of the psalmist's heart in Psalm 42:2: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" I think spiritual hunger is very similar to the desperation of physical hunger.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (This is Jesus talking in Matthew 5:6.)

"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife." (Proverbs 17:1)

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:13-14)

God has been teaching me lately about waiting. Waiting can be very hard to do sometimes, no matter how patient you are, and no matter how laidback or easygoing your personality is... especially when you're desperately hungry. There are some hunger pains that require a waiting period before satisfaction, and they cannot be satisfied with junk food. If I'm lonely, I probably shouldn't automatically turn on the TV and substitute it for people. If something in my past broke my heart, I probably shouldn't automatically volunteer for overtime at work to distract myself from my pain. If I'm desperate for advice, I probably shouldn't automatically pick up the phone and call someone without asking God what He thinks about my situation first. There isn't anything wrong per se with the activities that I just mentioned. It's just that God wants me to come to Him first. I need to. I have tasted and have seen that God is good, like it says in Psalm 34:8, and now I can't be satisfied with anything else. He is the only One who is capable of meeting every single need of my heart, and He WANTS to do so.

"But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." (This is God talking in Psalm 81:16.)

Psalm 145:15-16 that I quoted above is my most favorite Bible passage ever. God wants to open His hand and satisfy all of our desires in His timing. Waiting for Him to satisfy the cravings, needs, and desires that are inside me -- love, friendship, security, closeness, artistic expression, financial provision, encouragement, strength, righteousness, etc. -- can be very hard. But it's worth the agonizing wait.

Remember the chomped-up remnant of $30+ specialty cat food? I wonder if maybe that's how God wants me to treat Him, His word, and His food. "Lord, I'm craving Your food, and I want to eat now. I don't care if anyone's looking. And I don't care if people make fun of me for reading Bible websites at work or reading Gideon New Testaments in my car or taping index cards with Bible verses on my bathroom mirror. I need breakfast, lunch, dinner, and lots of snacks in between. I can't be a malnourished Christian. I need to sink my teeth into Your word, digest it, and grow big and strong. I need to hear You talk to me, and I can't even function if I can't hear Your voice. I'll lock myself in a closet if need be until I hear from You. I'm starving now, but if You want me to wait, I can wait hours upon hours for You if You want me to. I only want to eat the best stuff, and Your food is the best stuff."

In Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes a verse in Deuteronomy when He says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." It's Christmastime. The whole point of this enjoyable time is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God's only Son, the promised Messiah who made a way for us to know God as a Father. Jesus is the only way that we can know God and satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts. In John 6:35, Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life. After He came to earth as a baby, died for me on the cross as the Son of Man, and was risen from the dead, He ascended into heaven. I'm waiting for Him to come back again. I hope He comes back very soon, but He is infinitely more than worth the wait.

This was a long post. I'll bet you were waiting for it to end. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!