The things you can learn from a cat

I love my cat Mandy. I love her so very much. I have had her for about 20 years now, and that's pretty darn old for a cat. I love her out of history, I love her for her personality, I love the companionship she offers, I just love her.

I remember doing my 3rd grade homework and having her lay on my work-books. I was just a mere 7 years old when we got her, so the memories run wide and deep. There have been times in my life where people have failed me and times when I have failed myself, but she has always been a true and present constant in my life. We disagree with friends, argue with family, and get angry at spouses, but Mandy will curl up in my lap regardless of if I was in the right or wrong. Her food dish empty and water bowl dry, she still loves me. I can be gone for an hour or gone for 2 weeks, she will still meet me at the front door when she hears the garage open. I can pay her intense attention and affectionately pet her for hours or do nothing at all, she still snuggles flush against me in bed. She is happy to see me and be with me no matter what. To some people this is so lame and cheesy because it's just a cat, but if you really think about it, it's the kind of devotion we don't even give each other most of the time. The ones we love the most, we often treat with the least of ourselves.

As I type this, it makes me think about our relationships with God. Often placed on the back burner left in waiting while we run about our business. We know He's there, but we often feel we don't necessarily need Him for this certain task or that particular situation. It can go on for hours, weeks, even years. We can give Him much attention, or none at all, but when we show up, He answers every single time. He jumps off the couch where we have left Him and runs to the front door when He hears the garage door opening with a "Dear God . . ."

In Matthew 18, Jesus strongly justifies his love for those who have no pretensions at all. He does so by telling a devastatingly simple story about a man who owned 100 sheep and when one went missing, he went after it until he found it. And when he did find it, he was happier about that one sheep than about the other 99. Jesus himself is the Shepherd who is willing to pursue each and every lost sheep as far as it takes to bring about a rescue. That's how much he cares for us, even if we feel we've failed him terribly, as I have all too frequently.

The sheep owner found the lost sheep and brought it back successfully. There was no question of failure. . . no suggestion that the sheep may not have been worth saving. . . no promise that it wouldn't happen again. He simply rejoiced over retrieving the lost.

What a comfort that is!

It's amazing that this is what I learned from a cat today.