Lessons from the cat

Job 35:11
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

AnnaBelle Cat (ABC) is the latest of many cats we have rescued from various fates. One of the reasons we took Anna Belle off the hands of a teacher who was moving was because she looked just like the one (very pleasant-tempered) cat I actually loved (of the many who passed before her). But the similarity is only fur-deep.

Anna Belle is stubborn and resists training of every sort, especially pertaining to bodily functions. I have broken her of taking naps on the keyboard of my laptop (she likes the warmth of the electric current). But that's only because I learned to keep the lid cloased when I'm not using it. That was one good thing she taught me.

But there's more. When I get impatient and want to withhold her daily rations, when she cries loudly for no apparent reason, when she wants to rub against me at most inopportune times, when she won't go outside - or demands to go outside (whichever is opposite of "convenient"), whenever she yawns in disinterest at my attempts to connect cause and effect for her...at these times I remember how patient our Heavenly Father is with us.

And just when I'm most tired of cleaning up after her, I notice her earnest profile as she scans my face, or she hops in my lap to snuggle, or she (for some whimsical reason) remembers to potty in her pan...then I remember that she is one of God's creatures, too.

And I thank God for the wonder of His creation. It is a marvelous thing!