Tea is 6 years old today. I bought her a special tuna treat made especially for cats by IAMS (good quality stuff, people). When I placed the delicacy on a dish and set it in front of her, she just sniffed and stared at it, occasionally pawing at it like she would a toy mouse. You must understand that Tea was abandoned as a kitten (before she was found by a kind family who gave her to us) and as a result, feels she will never have enough food and eats everything in sight, including fuzz on the floor, paper ribbons, and all the tasty bits she can steal from the plates of Jazz or Dean or myself. Today, she just eyed the tuna in sauce like it was an odd new addition to the kitchen floor. For some reason, she did not recognise it as food.
We were watching a video of John Wimber on Wednesday night and he was speaking about his journey to experience God as a healer, which included praying for peoples' healing for almost a year without results. One of the insights God gave him was that His mercy is available for all. He has set everything in place, made all the provision, done everything that needs to be done, and come in the person of Jesus who embraced life and death in order for us to experience restoration and healing in our lives. And yet so few of us live there in a significant way. Why? Has God failed to include a vital piece of information or neglected to complete the task? No. Is He not willing and able? Yes, He is both. The problem is on our end. Tainted by sin and selfishness and deception, we are disappointingly unskilled in appropriating redemption. We do not see it, cannot smell its soul-watering aroma, walk right past it and wonder why there is nothing there, brush off its nudges in irritation because it feels like a bothersome stranger bumping against us, no doubt trying to relieve us of our precious pocket change or at the very least waste our time.
I am tired of being a stranger to healing and restoration. I am tired of my senses being overstimulated by this brash consumer culture that craves instant gratification, making me insensitive to meekness and humility which attract God and His blessings. I am tired of saying I want healing and mercy and in the next moment flicking it off when it lands on me because it is heavy and sticky and uncomfortable and not in the colour I asked for. I am tired of thinking that these incredible gifts that the most benevolent God bestows on us all come without responsibilities or consequences. I am tired of trying to skip the steep learning curve that redemptions hurls me into. And when I get tired enough, I hope I will finally give up, lie down, and accept it.
Jazz, notoriously picky in her eating habits, cantered up to the dish of tasty tuna cat food as soon as she smelled it and finished off Tea's birthday treat in short order while Tea stood by and watched, puzzled. Open your mouth and be satisfied.
Here I am in 2 of my more interesting roles: not letting sleeping cats lie and feline interpreter.
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