“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11: 28-29 MSG
From my Journal:
Some days I wake to sunshine and birdsong. Other days it is still dark. But each has one thing in common: every morning Missy is there.
If I sleep late there is Missy’s voice from the kitchen: “Get up and take care of the cat!” If someone leaves the kitchen door open, there is Missy, and sometimes Archie, standing on my bed, with the same message.
Sometimes, when I get up, she is already ensconced on Barry’s lap, or napping on the family room sofa. And sometimes, she stays where she is.
But that is rare. Usually she comes with me to the bathroom where “we” take “our” shower. She follows me in, and finds a seat on the bathmat, clothes chute or toilet. In perfect cat-posture, tail wrapped around paws, she waits until I finish.
Then it is her turn. She hops into the tub and proceeds to “mouse-hole” the drain. I am not sure what she thinks is going to happen. But she has always been fascinated with plumbing and she seems to want an answer to the question, “Where exactly does that water go?”
Some mornings she sits there for a long time. Others she is gone before I finished drying my hair. And most mornings she joins other members of the family and repeats this ritual.
Archie “bathes” too; particularly with the kids. His ritual is different, though. He sits on the bathmat until the human finishes. Then he proceeds to lick the shower curtain. (Archie likes his water “wild.”)
How pleasant it is when another creature finds your every move fascinating. And how delightful it is when another creature wants to be with you. It is so nice, in fact, that I often find myself wondering, “What reason did I have for getting up in the morning, before we had cats?”
And it occurs to me: Is this how God feels when I choose to be with Him?