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Lois the Cat

       The other night I was settling into bed--I was pretty tired because I had done a lot of heavy lifting that day. My wife had gone to the other coast to visit a friend, so I was home alone. I was looking forward to sinking into bed and drifting off to sleep. Then I felt a little presence next to my head. It was Lois the cat. She was a stray that we had adopted who was still getting used to being indoors. Up until this particular night she was not in the habit of jumping into our bed to sleep with us. Apparently she picked this time to start, so it was my “lucky” night. I picked her up and explained to her that it was alright for her to sleep in the bed as long as she wasn’t laying on me or next to me. Then I set her down on the far side of the bed and rolled back onto my side. After a minute or so I clunked off and was in Never Never Land.

     It seemed like some time had gone by (I couldn’t tell how long, I was asleep) when I felt that little presence pushing into me again. I explained to Lois, this time a little bit more forcefully, that she had to stay on the other side of the bed. And while I was telling her this--I was pushing her--but she wasn’t budging. Here I was, a two hundred pound man, wrestling with a cat that couldn’t weigh more than five pounds. It took all my strength to finally push her to the other side of the bed. I grabbed a big sofa pillow and set it up as a barricade between me and the cat. I knew that would keep her away from me.

     I couldn’t go back to sleep now, so I sat up and my mind began to wander. I was amazed how even a cat longs to be close to someone, longs to be loved. I began to think how beautiful it was that God had made a way for us to be close to Him. And how much I wanted to see Him and be near Him.

     Then--I wondered if God wanted the same thing. Does He crave to be near us like this cat wants to be near me? Does He long for physical affection from us in some way?

     I remembered where it said in the Bible that John, the disciple Jesus loved, leaned against Jesus’ chest at the last supper.

     I also remembered going to see a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar not too long ago. There was the scene where Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus with oil and kissed Him and wiped Him with her hair. And the play portrayed it in a sensual manner.

     When I first saw this I was a little offended. I thought it was wrong to portray Christ and a woman in a sensual manner. But I thought about it long and hard and realized there was no other way to look at this. I don’t care how you look at it, a woman kissing and stroking a man is a sensual thing--even if this man is the Son of God. And each time this happened to Jesus (the Bible reports at least two occurrences, there probably were others), He did not put a stop to it. He allowed it. He liked it. He praised the women that did it to Him. He rebuked those that disapproved.

     When Jesus stood weeping over Jerusalem--realizing they had missed His time of visitation, He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” (Luke 13:34).

     There can be no doubt Jesus enjoyed physical closeness. He enjoyed touching, hugging, and kissing those He loved and receiving physical affection from those that loved Him.

     Knowing this, isn’t it going to be nice to run up to Jesus and give Him a big hug when we finally see Him?

     But do we have to wait until we see Him?

     Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of . . . the least of these, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).     

     I realized opportunities to reach out and touch God and to show our love to Him are all around us. Even if it’s from the smallest of God’s creatures. But sadly too often we miss our time of visitation because we’re too busy with more important matters or, it’s just too inconvenient for us.

     About that time Lois the cat sprang over the barricade I had erected and then slowly looked up at me. I looked down at her and thought for a moment--and said, “Okay Lois, just this once.”

Taken from Falling in Love with the Prince of Life

©copyright 2009 Michael J. Silberg