Pastoral Ponderings—The Cat Came Back
There’s an old song Darling Wife Karol has told me about called “The Cat Came Back” about a cat that just keeps coming back no matter what. Our missing cat has come back—but only with hiding out and fighting it for several days. This was the cat who was hiding in the basement the whole first week he was with us, who I’m sure was eager to get home, but still not coming out. I finally found him under the kitchen door stairs—literally inches from the threshold of food, warmth and safety. But I had to drag him out from under the stairs to get him back in, but once back in, he is more cuddly than ever.
How often are we like that in our relationship with God, hiding just outside of the threshold, scared and lonely, eager to get home, but unwilling to take that last step, only coming back kicking and screaming? But in the song Karol was telling me about—you couldn’t keep the cat away! Over and over again the cat was away from home, but kept coming back, so eager to get home! How eager are we to rush back into God’s arms when we get lost?
These days with our GPS systems, we don’t get lost nearly as often as “back in the day.” But can we say the same in our spiritual lives—do we keep our spiritual GPS as ready at hand as we do the GPS on our cell phones? Do we even know how to access our spiritual GPS? Checking in your Bible is a good place to start!
I hope we’re more like the cat who kept coming back than our silly cat who would rather stay under the stairs outside the door in the cold! Keep coming back! Pastor Jim