I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs—he hears, he rescues. Psalm 55:16-19 MSG
This morning, before it was even light out, I heard a voice from the living room.
“Wah-woh! Wah-woh!” Hunter is calling. It sounds as close to “hello” as a cat can get.
What does he want? He wants his mom. And he doesn’t stop until he hears me. (Does he worry that I’ve been eaten by predators?)
Past experience tells me that if I get up and go to the bathroom, that may be enough for him to give me a couple more hours. But many days the crying goes on until I open the bedroom door.
To be honest, this behavior annoys me. It used to start 10 minutes after I went to bed or at intervals during the night, but I determined not to give in and he stopped. Now it’s just in the morning. Early morning. 4 AM today. Sigh. In spite of white noise and a pillow over my head, I can still hear him.
At this point, I have two choices. I can either go into the living room, and settle into my recliner. Hunter comes for a cuddle that can last a couple of hours as he purrs and snores in my arms like a baby. But 4 AM? Really?
Or I can open the door and go back to bed. After a quick check of the room, Hunter joins me. He’d like to give me a good “bath” but I tell him, “Let me sleep, Hunter. let me sleep.” And he does. Curled up to me, he dozes off, content to just be near me. And I sleep, comforted by his little warm body.
This morning, after letting him in (I held out until 5:30), Hunter jumped up on the bed. It took him a few minutes to settle in ( it’s hard to find a place when Mom won’t let you have her pillow), but the end result was I got two more hours of sleep.
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How glad I am that God doesn’t ignore my cry or become impatient with me. I am always welcome, no matter when or where.
Our pets need us. It’s what we signed up for. Love is precious wherever we find it, even in the predawn hours. And maybe if I play my cards right, I’ll get to go back to sleep!