Lessons from a Stray Cat

Lesson #1: “On My Own”

Cat story:

She was trying to make it on her own. She was just a half-grown, gray cat, apparently dumped at the side of the road. No one wanted her, and no one wanted the responsibility of finding her a home. The person who left her there probably carelessly assumed that she was old enough to take care of herself.

She wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

For two or three weeks, we caught glimpses of her in the field that stretches beside and behind our house. Shy and easily frightened, she would scurry away as soon as one of us stepped outdoors. It was impossible to get a good look at her, but what little we did see wasn’t reassuring. Unlike other occasional feral cats, she wasn’t thriving on the plentiful rodents she was trying to catch. She looked thin and ragged.

However, she wasn’t our cat. She wasn’t our responsibility. Besides, she always ran away.

At least, she did until one afternoon. I stepped out on our side porch that day, and there was the little, gray cat up behind our house, right on the edge of our lawn. I froze, not wanting to frighten her, and expected her to run for cover as she always had before. Instead, she paused a moment, stared at me, and then began walking steadily toward me, crying loudly with every step.

I can’t speak cat, and she couldn’t speak English, but her meaning was loud and clear: “Please help me! I need food! I need love! I CAN’T MAKE IT ON MY OWN!”

She walked right up to my feet, still crying. She has never left us since.

Bible lesson:

Oh, how we try to make it on our own! From the two-year-old who proudly proclaims, “Me do it MESELF!” to the 87-year-old whose only concession to fading eyesight and slowed reflexes is to tool down the highway at 45 M.P.H., we cherish our independence.

Unfortunately for us, we were not designed to flourish alone.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding,” we are advised in Proverbs 3:5-6. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

We were created to be dependent on our Creator.

How that galls our independent spirits! How we love to do our own thing… to choose our own way… to stand on our own two feet!

What does our dependence on God look like? It begins with something as simple as a prayer of thanksgiving.

“Thank You, God, for the strength to face another day.”

“Thank You, Father, for food to eat.”

“Thank You, Lord, for Your promise to be with me.”

To give thanks is to acknowledge our dependence on the Giver of all things. No wonder God’s list of grievances against His stubborn, independent, human creations began with “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful…” (Romans 1:21)

To refuse to acknowledge God’s gifts – and to refuse to allow Him to direct our steps – is to shake our fists in the face of the Almighty and to declare, “I can make it on my own!”

Foolish, foolish choice.

That’s the choice the prodigal son made. Remember the story in Luke 15:11-24? He declared his independence from his loving father. He walked away from his father’s house – with his father’s money in his pocket! He was going to do it his way. He was going to make it on his own.

All was well… until his inheritance ran out. He began to flounder. Times were hard. He grew desperate and hungry.

Then, from the stench of the pigpen ascended his repentant cry: “I will arise and go to my father…” (Luke 15:18) He finally acknowledged, “I CAN”T MAKE IT ON MY OWN!” Like our little stray cat, he headed for the only home available to him. Desperate. Crying. At the end of himself. Ready to be grateful for the least kindness. Ready to submit to the Father’s leadership.

“…And when he was a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him…” (Luke 15:20)

He was welcome.

The little, gray cat found a refuge. All she had to do was admit she couldn’t go on alone.

The Father is waiting for us to do the same.