Lessons from the Feline Kind

Our family has two cats. One is named Pumpkin, and the other is named Wiggles.

Wiggles

They are both orange, but that’s pretty much where the similarities stop! Pumpkin is a slender, older cat that we got way back in 2001 (or was it 2002? I forget!). He used to have a lot of spunk in him (like, leaping door jams and getting on the table), but now he just lays around the house for most of the day. (Well, he still gets on the table! In years past that was a big no-no, but now Mom just looks the other way and pretends not to notice.) Pumpkin is Mom’s special cat.

Wiggles is my sister’s special cat, and is still considered the “new” cat even though we’ve had him for a year and a half now. When we went to the animal shelter to pick out a kitten, Mom said that she didn’t want a kitten for Alison (my sister) that would just sit around and sleep all day.  My sister is very active, and we needed an active kitty. So when we approached the room at the animal shelter which housed all the kittens, one kitten came leaping out of his bed and over to the door and said, “Pick me! Pick me!” Well, we all fell for this tiny ball of fur, and took him home. En route Alison had the privilege of naming him, and she chose the name of “Wiggles”, since he had been so wiggly in the hour or so that we had interacted with him.

Boy but Alison had no clue on how well she had named her kitten! He’s grown a lot, and now her “kitten” weighs almost fifteen pounds! He is so full of energy and fun, he is really a great match for her. We like to say that he is a very bad cat (he does all sorts of bad stuff, including getting on the table and tearing around the house climbing things that he shouldn’t!), but Alison is quick to remind us that he is “just troublesome!”. 

Wiggles’ name has evolved, too. Of course his official name is still “Wiggles”, but since then we have shortened it to “Wiggie”. Because he’s so big, his nickname has changed to “Biggie”. He is also referred to as “Biggie Boy” (Alison’s favorite nickname), or just simply “The Big Wig”. ;)

Pumpkin

Lately Pumpkin has been door-dashing. Normally we would expect that Wiggles would be door-dashing, and while I’m sure he would if his chance came, Pumpkin seems to be escaping right and left. We always scoop him up and bring him inside, both of our cats being indoors-only.

But Pumpkin escaping has started me thinking. Being inside-only, I’m sure in his little kitty brain it is just his dream to get outside and explore the great outdoors. But what he doesn’t realize is that his being kept in our house is the best for him. There are dangers, diseases, and enemies outside of which he knows not. By keeping Pumpkin inside, we keep him safe from all of that.

And that kinda reminds me of how we sometimes act with God. God’s set up a set of rules—the 10 Commandments—for our good. It’s not to confine us, or to limit our life or fun. That’s like us telling Pumpkin that he needs to stay inside. But we seem to want to escape outside, don’t we? Too many times we want to see what’s out there, to experiment, to do it our own way, and eventually come to the conclusion that God was right after all. Really, God’s rules are set up to keep us safe and happy.

I really don’t think that I need to elaborate on this more. Are you still trying to “escape outside”? Or are you happily living “in the house” of God’s protection?

“We all, like sheep [& cats?], have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” --Isaiah 53:6

“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD…You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed…I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” --Psalms 119:1, 5, 32