We have a cat. Or
maybe I should say a cat has us. Yeah,
that’s probably more correct. We are
owned by a cat.
It’s certainly not something we planned on. I’m not even sure we’re “cat people.” In fact, until a little over three years
ago, we were a cat free family-and my husband was vehemently opposed to even
the suggestion that a feline might one day join (own) our family-he simply
disliked cats. Dislike may be too soft
a word, actually.
Thus enter the longings of a then 4 year old boy into our family
history. He begged and pleaded, begged
and pleaded, and then begged and pleaded a little more—for a cat-preferably one
of the “black Halloween” variety. I
guess, to that point, we’d raised him right, because when he realized he was
getting nowhere with us, he took his request to a higher power. Yes, my friends, our little boy was down on
his knees before bedtime praying earnestly for a “black Halloween cat.”
Now, my husband and I may not be the brightest crayons in
the box, but we do learn-and what we learned about the last time our youngster
had a prayed like that (for a new sibling-he also asked Santa Claus for that
one) was that God, in fact, hears and answers the prayers of the pure and
earnest. So, we made arrangements to
adopt one (and then two….that’s another story entirely!) cats from a nearby
animal rescue before the Good Lord had a chance to “bless” us with an entire
litter of kittens. One of those better
to jump off the diving board than to be shoved into the water kind of things…
Cat one, Amos, went well from the beginning. He made himself right at home and quickly became
friendly with the household, even the 4 year old and the 11 month old. Cat two, Rubelle-the bonus kitty, if you
will-was another story entirely. We
don’t know what happened to her in her first year of life (she was right at a
year old when we brought her home), but whatever it was likely did not involve
happy times with humans. She was
absolutely terrified. We could not get
within 5 feet of her. I’m pretty sure
that neither myself, my husband, nor our oldest was able to get so much as a
finger on her for the first two weeks.
We were pretty much at a loss-here was this pitiful creature who was
either running frantically through our house in an effort to get away from us
or shaking from fear in a corner-and there didn’t seem to be much we were going
to be able to do about it.
There was one ray of hope, though. On about day 4, we noticed that when we would
put the baby down for a nap, Ruby would slip into the bedroom, curl up beside
him, and sleep. One day, I managed to
slip in there and put a hand on her. She
shrank back from me at first, then let me pet her a few times before she took
off again. And so began the
journey. Some days she let us pet her,
some days not. We bribed her with
treats, toys, catnip, and even fried catfish-her favorite. We made an effort to move slowly around
her. Most of all, we just loved
her. And eventually, she started to
come around.
Fast forward three years to the present-she’s an only cat
(we lost Amos to an illness), and the queen of the house. Now the cat who was all but untouchable spends
most of her days seeking a lap to sit on and pretty much all of her nights
curled up in the bed between me and my husband-preferably with one of us
holding her, but at the very least, cuddled up against someone . Quite a difference, don’t you think?
I tell this story to make this point. You may go and do good all day, all week,
all year even, and feel like you’re not being successful. But there is always hope. And that good is never ever wasted. You see, people and cats aren’t that
different. When people get hurt, they
tend to pull back, and worse, they sometimes run away and hide because they are
so fearful of being hurt again. And
often times, it’s these very people who need to be loved, who need to
experience good, the most. Just like Ruby,
they have to change their way of thinking and learn to be loved, and that takes
time. Three years ago, we couldn’t
touch her. Today, she rolls over for us
to scratch her belly.
Love is an investment.
And all worthwhile investments require some effort and time. It may take time to see the results, but
love. Just love. Love first and love last. The rest will take care of itself. Maybe you’ll see the results, maybe you won’t-but
does it matter? The point was never for
you to see the results in the first place-the point is will you go and do
what/where God is calling you. He’ll
handle the rest.
And, if you don’t believe people can change-Rubelle is
sleeping on my husband’s back as I finish up this post. Turns out, he’s a cat person after all. J
Just love and do good.
That’s all He asks. The rest will
come, whether we’re around or not.
Get up and go!
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