Bec's Blog

July Blog by Pastor Bec

 

Two caveats before reading:

1) This is not a dissertation on guns – pro or con.

2) There may be disturbing reading regarding treatment of animals, but don’t worry…it ends well.

 

Most people who know me and Jon know about Tibby. She is our beloved 9 year old, 3-legged rescue cat. To say she is the joy of our lives, and perhaps a bit spoiled, would not be exaggerating. As many people who have enjoyed rescue pets know, they seem to have an innate sense of gratitude which causes them to live with their owners – expressing great affection. Tibby’s soft fur and purring can bring calm to almost any kind of turbulent day. And when she snuggles up next to you in bed at night, it is not only warm, but sweet.

I spent way too much time worrying about how she would do driving for long distances, for the first time, as we planned to finally begin to live out the “summers in Maine” dream this year. Surely the frequent sound of large trucks, among other loud noises, would disturb her? There would also be two week intervals rotating with care of Jon’s 95-yr old mom at her home on Long Island in NY. How would Tibby cope?

This was, after all, a very skittish cat. For good reason. She was run over by a garbage truck and had one of her back legs amputated. We believe she was a feral cat beforehand. The Bible warns us not to worry for good reason. (Philippians 4:6-7) It accomplishes nothing, and steals our peace.

Surprisingly, Tibby did great on long 9-12 hour drives with only occasional stops. She actually slept in her carrier the whole time. And resumed normal routines quickly.

Then we got to Blueberry Point – our family home in Maine. She was fine the first few days, but then began meowing, and yowling very early in the mornings. Repeatedly.

At first we discovered she had actually eaten all of her normally allotted food and simply wanted more. One time her water bowl was dry. (But we filled it up before we went to bed!) So we made sure all of that was taken care of. And I faithfully scooped her litter box each night. She does like affection, and to be petted on the head.

When Jon is gone, she loves sleeping with me and there is no midnight meowing at all.

 But a couple of nights/mornings ago I had simply had it. She woke me up repeatedly throughout the early morning hours. I was exhausted. Jon slept blissfully through it all. (Yes like when the kids were little.) I finally closed our bedroom door completely on her which, you guessed it, only made the meowing/yowling worse.

 That’s when I contemplated getting a squirt gun. Yes, when she would carry on without stopping, waking me from a sound sleep, repeatedly, (everyone saying the next day… “Rebecca, you look so tired!”) I would simply take my already loaded water gun and let her have it! We actually did use this disciplining technique earlier in our cat lives with our very sweet but very precocious yellow tabby named Oliver. It was effective.

So the next day, as we were shopping in a larger city nearby, I looked for squirt guns. There were none to be had! By the end of July up here, summer supplies are hard to find and back-to-school and Halloween displays are already filling in the seasonal sections. I simply could not find any water guns.

 Then, I had a long talk with my older sister one afternoon shortly thereafter. She and her husband were here visiting a couple of years ago and fell in love with Tibby, and her with them. (She flew up that time.) Kathy asked me a simple five word question which stopped me in my tracks: “How old is she now?”

“Um, nine years old,” I answered. And that’s when everything changed.

Though I don’t think of that age (in human years) as old for a pet, it isn’t young anymore, either. Suddenly, my hardened heart softened. I looked at her after that with eyes of compassion, instead of irritation.

 

Grace won out over the gun.

 

Paul wrote to his beloved Ephesians church these words: “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Later, he added “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” (Ephesians 4:2-3, 7)

 While I’m sure he was not referring to cats when he wrote this, the thought applies. Instead of being mad at and impatient with Tibby, I needed to understand this was still a new place for her and she is older and was probably scared and needed reassurance.

How many times has this same line of thinking affected us with human beings?

How many times have we been impatient or irritated by someone when actually they just needed us to show them some grace? You can probably think of examples when you decided to err on the side of grace, and were glad in the long run that you did.

 As Christ followers, let’s choose grace more often.

Everyone around us will be glad we did! Meow!