Being adopted by the neighborhood cat.
We never made a decision to have a family pet, even a part time pet. The care and cleanup of pets more involved than small tropical fish just didn’t seem like something we needed with our busy life. We missed out on the lessons that the kids could learn when they were younger from having the responsibilities of taking care of the family pet and the warmth and affection that a good pet provides its family.
A couple years ago, when my daughter did her obligatory 1 hour walks around the neighborhood for her Summer PE class, I went along with her. We would stroll by this one house where a brown tabby cat would come out and be petted by a nice passerby while steering away from dump trucks and dogs. Some days we’d see the cat and some days we wouldn’t. We began to miss the cat on the days we didn’t see it.
One day, the cat decided to follow us down the sidewalk, admittedly, we were somewhat spooked. So before we got to our corner, we ran so the cat wouldn’t keep on following us or track us back home.
Once in a while we would see the cat around near the same house. We assumed the cat lived at that house.
One afternoon, my wife and I were out for a walk and a few doors down from the “cat house” my daughter and I usually saw the cat, it was laying out resting and then decided to follow us. We let it follow us all the way back home where it would hang out in the front yard. She would typically leave before nightfall.
I usually work at the computer near our backyard and one day the cat decided to pay a visit to our back door. That was weird. I would go outside to pet it but it also wanted to nose her way into the house. So I had to carefully open the door (and retract our screen door since it would want to claw at it). After petting her, she would hang out and sunbathe and then saunter off into the neighborhood unknowns.
A couple of times during a summer project, he cat hangout in our backyard while we were working, even at night.
Oddly enough, around 10 pm one night when it was a bit cold and windy, the cat was out front, presumably looking for shelter, but we didn’t let her in the house simply because we didn’t think our house was set up for a cat to romp around in.
We began to think it was time to prepare to have some food for the cat and to provide a little shelter for the cat in case, so when it would come by we put out some food and we had a heated “cat shed” ready to go.
Because there’s usually someone home, it became common occurrence the cat finding places in our front yard, like under some bushes, or wildflowers to rest under, and then she would be ready to show up for 3 meals a day.
I received some advice from one of my cat owner friends that he feeds his cat canned food in the morning and leave some dry food for the rest of the day. So when the cat came for breakfast, which was usually 7 or 8 in the morning, we’d feed it a small can of food which she seemed to really enjoy.
For the longest time, we would restrict the cat from coming into the house, but gradually, and grudgingly, we’d cave and let the cat go explore parts of the house, where she would find various places to take shelter under before we’d have to gently shoo her away knowing that we couldn’t just let her stay inside.
We do know that whoever owns her knows where she is because she almost always wears an Air Tag around her neck.
Needless to say, the whole family is enamored with this very pleasant cat who is very well behaved and is always happy to see us as much as we enjoyed being around her. In fact, it’s nice to have a strong a common interest in as meeting the needs of this cat.
Little did we know that the cat coming into our lives has been a little oasis in our busy and distracted lives.
One morning, the cat experience took an unusual turn. My wife and I had come back from church and we were discussing a problem while sitting in the car in the driveway. It was a difficult issue we were talking about and the feeling of the talk was about to spill over into the emotional disagreement phase. A communication impasse seemed inevitable.
At just that moment, the cat jumped on top of the car hood and looked at us like “What in the world are you doing?” Immediately my wife and I broke out into laughter. In a moment our mindset had transformed to a peaceful gratitude. We stepped out of the car and entertained the cat with the food she was probably waiting for, and the heavy emotions of just a moment past vaporized into thin air. Rarely had their been such a monumental shift in one of our heavy talks.
The Bible does feature animals as a means of serving the purposes of God and I certainly felt the cat’s sudden presence was a God-worthy lesson in how He can intervene in our circumstances to bring about immediate transformation for His purposes and for peace.
***
What’s a connection between the Cat and the Book of Jonah?
Though it does not have to do with animals, I am drawn to connect my experience with the cat to the story of Jonah after the city of Nineveh was saved from destruction by the warnings provided by God’s reluctant prophet. My correlation doesn’t have to do with the great fish, although that was another miraculous sign in the account of Jonah’s life.
So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” – Jonah 4:5-11
The reason I am drawn to this episode about God and Jonah is, in a way, the cat that adopted my family is a lot like the shade tree that grew to give Jonah some shade in the desert heat. Jonah enjoyed the tree and the shade it provided. He enjoyed it in a way he didn’t appreciate being saved by the great fish.
The cat became a reality in our life more by chance than by anything else. I didn’t set out to ensure that this cat would want to adopt my family among all the families in the neighborhood, and moreover, there’s no telling when the cat will decide to not come to our house (or be restricted by her owner or by her own cat life circumstances).
Nevertheless, the cat has truly been a blessing, bringing with her a unique sense of happiness, care, and compassion that otherwise would not be drawn out of my family.
In the parallel thought, we should not be envious or jealous for the good fortune of someone else since the Lord God prepare[s] a plant and [makes] it come up over [others], that it might be shade for [their] head to deliver [them] from [their] misery. Furthermore, changing circumstances give us the chance to give God the glory for the blessings we receive, much like the repentant people of the heathen City of Nineveh who responded with repentance to the warnings of a coming judgment proclaimed by Jonah.
***
In Closing: Interesting connections when Jesus mentions the “Sign of Jonah” and the “men of Nineveh”
29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. – Luke 11:29-30
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. – Matthew 12:40-41.
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
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This is the way it goes – the ‘kitty-verse’ just decided you need a cat. This has happened to
me – about 6 times over the last 40 years. A cat will just show up on my doorstep; regardless of noise, dogs in the house, etc. This is home and you can’t dissuade them of that notion. You have been blessed.