Truth has no special time of its own.
Its hour is now – always.
Albert Schweitzer
(a very fearful and shy visitor / Julie Cook/ 2020)
Time has never been my own.
It is not mine, nor is it yours.
Time is truly not any of ours to claim.
Time is beyond control.
It is beyond ‘our’ control.
And guess what…we humans don’t like that.
So what that all means is that “things” happen.
They happen whether we like it or not.
We have two cats.
Both cats were rescue cats.
Cats who found us to rescue them rather
than our finding them to rescue.
Now whereas most folks go to a shelter or have a friend who contacts them regarding
a found stray animal, we had two animals who actually found us.
Each about 7 years apart.
They sought us out.
We did not go looking for them.
Percy, who was in dire straits at just about a month old, was in the most desperate of shape.
Peaches, on the other hand, was about 8 months old, wandering alone in a back field,
and was very very hungry.
They were in need and each one had some innate drive which brought them to where they
each believed help would come.
Help came.
Love came.
Fast forward to present day.
Two days ago, I saw a dark blur dash across our front porch.
Huh?
What the heck??
I told my husband about seeing this odd blur and he told me that he meant to tell me
that he’d also seen a dark blur race across the back patio that he thought was certainly
a cat.
UGH! was my response.
We live on 5 acres in a mostly rural area with a few subdivisions nearby.
Stray animals, obviously, are not strangers to our area.
So I poked around the yard, bent over nearly on my head peeking through the lattice
covering our front porch, when low and behold, up under that front porch, first,
I heard a small mew and then I could make out two small ears.
UGH…agian
Oh, did I mention Percy has blown out his other back knee and really needs another
expensive and ardrous surgery??
This kitten, who appears to be part calico, is not like Peaches or Percy, whereas he, she, it
is not necessarily seeking us out–it has merely taken up residence in the dirt under my front porch.
I sumise that it is about 3 months old.
And yes, as you can see from the pictures, I have obviously offered free food and water.
Call me a softie but St. Francis is constantly whispering in my ear…
A friend of mine told me that her sister would take the kitten.
The problem is that I can’t “get” the kitten.
It is so skittish that I can’t get near it.
I tried yesterday…as it readily ate the food I offered, to pet its head after I coaxed it out
from under the porch…
.
I thought I had a perfect moment and tried to scoop it up, wraping it in a towel
as I hoped to move it to a cage that I’d set up with food, water, a litter box and cushion
until I could transport it to my friend’s sister.
And that’s when it bit me.
It then jumped and ran.
Great.
Rabis or cat scratch fever…maybe worms.
UGH!
So needless to say, the kitten ran and remains under our porch.
I continue to place dry food and water near the front porch in the evening
and by morning, each have disappeared.
Call me a sucker.
But like I say, St. Francis speaks loudly in my heart and soul.
So this story of three different cats, each needing and wanting, got me thinking about us
as humans both wanting and needing.
Sometimes we humans go forth needing…we seek because whe innately know we need.
Yet at other times we are needing but we dare not acknowledge such…I think we call that
hubris and pride.
Yet God, our Father, knows of both our needs and wants.
He is the consumate Gentleman.
He’ll place the food and water out by the porch..knowing we’ll come out
at some point, in the cover of darkness, in order to find our necessary sustenance…
but He will not force us out to take what He offers.
He is patient, dilentgly waiting.
He’s been bitten more times than can be counted…yet He still puts out
the sustenance, that being His own Son, and continues to sit and wait on the steps…
waiting with open arms…
He knows His children and He waits until they can actually figure their needs and wants.
Sometimes they, we, will readily come out from under that porch.
Sometimes they, we, will never come out.
Sometimes they, we, know their needs.
Sometimes they, we, know their wants.
Sometimes they, we, are humble enough to seek out what we know we need.
He will never force us…
He just patiently waits.
I’m thankful He waits.
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18
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