A Tale of Two Kitties

Someone once said that good things come in pairs. In the time since Max, our tuxedoed feline joined our family that warm fall day, we’ve not been able to imagine life before him. He has taught us much about loosening our grip on perfection, reminding us to laugh and enjoy being childlike. I was certain that Max completed our family, adding his dynamic personality to the ebb and flow of our crazy lives.

Then came the fateful Saturday of November 20, 2004, a day marked with the gray drizzle of impending winter. You probably remember the cascade of orange and blue, crimson and white that decorated a certain “T” town 90 miles from here. We remember that, due to a gracious Clergy Appreciation gift, a friend offered to keep Anna Caroline and John Michael overnight, so we slept in leisurely (for once) and decided to take a prayer walk before settling in to watch the Main Event. We were just getting into a rhythm as the sky began to inflect sprinkles of freshness upon us when we heard the tiniest of plaintive wails coming from the brush that separated the acreage from the freeway just beyond.

For the next twenty minutes, we waltzed, two steps forward and one step back, with a tiny, fluffy, gray and black-striped kitten that could not have been more than six weeks old, presumably dropped off by someone who chose not to raise it. It was so unlike me to even give permission for Max to descend upon our household, but in this mist, I couldn’t see leaving this little one out all alone, especially when we believed that it was certainly a “divine appointment.” He would not dare come to us, but he would not dare allow us out of his sight, either. Finally, after extending more patience than I knew we had, he came close enough to be grabbed and cradled in my dry t-shirt, and we headed back to the car, not having any idea where we’d go from here. “Ridge” made his mark on our hearts, casting his own “Ebenezer stone”, for we knew this day was forever etched in our memory.

Fast forwarding past the territorial battles, the “shots for two”, and the “I can’t believe we now live with TWO CATS!”, we marvel at God’s provision not just for Max (companionship), for Ridge (safe harbor), for us (more anti-perfection lessons!), but for all of us collectively. As the differences in the two kittens have emerged, God keeps reminding me of the differences in people, especially as they seek to relate (or not) to His outstretched arms!

Max is the proverbial “churched” cat. From a litter of five, he came from a loving family who lived on extensive property in Lee County, never knew the denial a square meal, and was well-skilled at worming his way into hearts, both feline and human. He answers perfectly when you speak to him, cocks his head sideways whenever he spots something new (much like Forrest Gump, Junior), and “studies” his environment with passionate abandon. The stereotypical first-born, Max neglects to ask permission before heading toward the bounty, expecting peasant Ridge to wait until King Max is satisfied. He is a people-cat, always seeking a lap, a cuddle, and actually an interesting discussion.

Ridge, on the other hand, is a seeker, and he remembers well what it was like to be “burned” by those upon which he felt he could depend. A friend shared that animals have a soft spot for those who rescue them, and though we can see this in Ridge, we also notice that his basic hesitancy has remained. He is just not completely certain where matters of the heart and trust are concerned. He’s content to let Max “give the answers”, and spending time alone, “away from the family group” is just fine with him. As a matter of fact, he is rather choosy about coming when he is called at all, though when it’s convenient for him, he will show up. When he feels perfectly (AND I DO MEAN PERFECTLY) at home, he might crawl up underneath an adult chin, and I am thankful that the ever-eager children cannot read his mind as they insist upon cradling him much more than he probably wishes.

How so like us! We who are churched just can’t imagine why others won’t deign to join the family! Those who aren’t churched just can’t imagine what makes us love it so much! Could it be that we are such a product of our upbringing that it affects the things we run to…and from? Must we make present and future decisions that are have umbilical attachment to the past, or can we, by God’s grace and strength, cut the cords that bind, instead turning them into ties that reach out…and bind…and keep reaching out…and keep binding?

You know, in the end, as we stand as individuals before God’s throne, what do we plan to tell Him? My prayer, being churched, is to be able to cry that I poured my heart out a little more for God and others daily that more of my own selfishness might be erased to make room for a Jesus that is so magnetic that others just couldn’t cease wanting that peace and pleasure for themselves! Were I unchurched, I pray I might never have to tell God that people DID reach out to me, tried to understand me, tried to remove some of the stumbling blocks that kept me from entering His presence, but that I chose, in and of myself, to avoid the family gatherings. In both cases, He already knows.

God is bigger than a family gathering, but He calls the Church His Bride, and He pleads for us to guard it within from the things that would keep people without. He also pleads that His prodigals return home to His outstretched arms, learning to depend upon Him for the power to navigate the rough waters of learning live and work together in the family. He intends that His believers glorify Him together, a plan that can only be accomplished through the glue and oil of the Holy Spirit, for there is no such animal as a Lone Ranger Christian. In a world built upon the consumer mentality, this is news for some. But our God never changes in His intent and purpose, and the blessings that await from doing things His way are too many to count.

God used a donkey, a dove, a serpent, and countless sheep to accomplish His plans and illuminate our choices in the past. It’s not surprising that He’d use two distinctly opposite furry felines two years ago to do the same thing! The question is, what will we do with the wisdom He reveals?