Dear Reader,
I have redesigned this first paragraph of this article a number of times. It is no longer a witty introduction, but an apology. I have accepted that there are things out of my control that have conspired against the launch of this website at the first of the year.
And even if it has been years since the idea first lighted upon my mind to write about kittens and cats, I choose to extend myself a little grace (there was covid - well, at least that my story and I'm sticking with it).
To my friends, students, and family, who have been listening to me talk about this endeavor for months I say, "I am sorry for the delay. Sometimes things just take longer than expected." I can only hope that my "cat parables" will be worth the wait.
Thank you for your patience and encouragement . . . purrs and head bumps to all of you!
THE FIRST BLOG POST
Title:"Caught in the Act!"
Cat: Piza,
Published: January 4, 2024
After breakfast, I returned to my bedroom to dress for work and there she was! I caught Piza right in the act!
Now, Piza is my very small, but very round, black and white “bedroom kitty” who was rescued from the family farm. Piza was born with a head tilt - and a farm was a dangerous place for a curious kitten with balance issues. Piza had spent most of her time under a bush by the farmhouse kitchen window – rain or shine. I took pity on her, won her heart one summer with cans of wet cat food, and finally took her home to live with me. (See her biography under "About - Cats.")
But today she was caught in the act! I saw Piza - sitting on MY pillow! Not on the bed. Not on the bedspread covering my bed pillow. But on my pillow! Piza had actually pulled back the covers on a freshly-made bed and had her little round kitty bottom (and kitty litter tramping paws) sitting directly on my very soft personal bed pillow - where my face goes when I sleep!
Piza saw me and froze in a moment of recognition - that immediately turned to panic, but only after I spoke her name and I gave her “the evil eye.” Upon returning to her senses, she scrambled to leap up off of my pillow and onto the top of the head of the bed. I have a "book shelf" headboard.
Let me digress a moment and talk about cats and rules, kids and rules, the Nation of Israel - and rules . . . and give you stories within a story. I simply must.
While the county road commission was working on the main road in front of my house, it was pretty dangerous to walk or ride a bike there. So, to get to the rest of the neighborhood side streets, our three next-door neighbor girls would walk their bikes through my corner lot's back yard to safely avoid the risks and mess out front. The backyard walk takes them between my house and my garage and past a huge ceiling to floor dining area kitchen window. The neighbors knew us and our cats well. They knew that we kept our cats off of the counters and kitchen table. Well, one day our neighbor girls' mom stopped by to inform me that when she had walked through our back yard earlier with the girls and their bikes, she looked through the big kitchen window at our kitchen table - not to snoop, but she just looked to the right. She reported seeing seven cats sunning themselves on the kitchen table!
It was then I knew that our cats knew our rules, but did not share our values. When we were home, cats were on the floor. When we went to work, cats got onto everything. This was Piza. I had no buy-in because this rule of not sleeping on my bed pillow made no sense to her. It seemed arbitrary and capricious. She lacked the "big picture " I had. Piza had a pillow in her own bed, so why can't she lay on my pillow? She even slept with me, so why not on my face pillow right now? Her obedience was inconsistent because there was nothing internally motivating her regarding this rule. She put up with my rules in my presence - but she did not hold my values - my desire for sanitary sleeping conditions.
Then there were my students. They lived in, and therefore I taught in, a residential treatment facility for adjudicated young men where their lives were controlled by one huge list of rules and expectations. My students actually wanted a list of rules. I'd often hear, "Just tell me what to do. And I'll do it." But this was followed by the unspoken motivation, "Because if I jump through all your hoops, you will release me. Then I can go back to my neighborhood and live how I really want to live."
They wanted everything to be black and white! But transformational rehabilitation is not a list of hoops to jump through. My group's classroom was difficult because I would not give them a list of rules. I shared my values with them. For example: my highest value was the sacred worth of and the importance of dignity to human beings. Every behavior was to be based on considering one's inner motivating values . . . making a belief-behavior connection. I knew I would not be there to supervise my students for the rest of their lives. But I could share with them my values, so if they internalized them, my students would always have an inner voice that sounded a little like mine!
So, when someone truly accidently spilled food on themselves in the dining hall, I asked, "What do we do, group?" My students immediately relied on rules and parroted, "No one is to return to the dormitory during the school day." So, I asked, "Do we let a fellow student go to school all day wet and sticky?" My preferred answer was, "No." Sacred worth and dignity dictates we exercise care and concern, and we always go with the "highest" value. So, while frivolous trips to the dorms are unsafe and unnecessary, when someone is wet and sticky because of a real accident, we need to take the time to get a clean outfit and allow for clean-up and thereby ensure a more comfortable school day.
It was difficult - and they even tried to create a hierarchy of values that related directly to every possible situation. However, decisions took time. Real thought was needed. Self-examination took place. Each event had to be addressed on a case by case basis.
This was a much harder way to live. Same thing being a follower of Jesus. Jesus didn't ask us to read our Bibles daily, go to church twice a week, do our dishes, take out our garbage, or call our moms once a week. Jesus commanded us to love God fully and love one another as he loved us. But what does that look like? What does love require of us? I confess, sometime I even desperately ask, "Jesus, where is my list!?!"
Moses ran into this same situation in the wilderness at the foot of Sinai. The Nation of Israel was offered an opportunity to be in an intimate relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to hear his voice for themselves, but the people were afraid of the presence of God. Terrified by the thunder and lightning, and therefore opted for Moses to go up the mountain to be close to God and then just come back and tell them what to do. So, Moses saw God and spoke with him as a friend. (Exodus 33:11) The Israelites got 613 rules! (Exodus 19 and 20) Moses knew God's ways. Israel only saw God's acts. (Psalm 103:7)
Knowing someone intimately is a more time-consuming and perilous endeavor than following a list of behaviors. Moses knew God's heart. The people knew his rules.
If Piza knew me and valued what I value - she'd value sanitary living conditions. She would not sleep on my pillow, try to drink out of my glass, sneeze in my face, or visit her litter box and then play in my basket of clean laundry . . . but she can't so, to her, my rules are crazy: Don't sleep on Lora's pillow, but on your own pillow that looks and feels exactly like hers? Stay away from her beverages and food - Lora doesn't share - but I am supposed to share my food and water dish with other cats? Stay away from clean clothes, except when Lora is wearing them.
Piza knew I did NOT want her sitting on my grandmother-embroidered pillow case on my bed. But she had no clue why not. This was information she could not comprehend. So, when I was watching, Piza was an obedient and compliant roommate. But she did not share my value of having a sanitary sleeping space! Therefore, Piza only complied when I was there to enforce the rule.
So, back to the scene of the crime . . .
As mentioned before, I have a bookshelf headboard on my bed and Piza tried to jump up from my pillow onto the top of the headboard where she could enjoy the smooth cool maple shelf and lose the guilt of being caught in the act of sleeping on MY pillow!
I’m sure once up there, she was planning on stretching out and giving me that innocent cat look that made one question one's own perception of reality. “What pillow?” “Wasn’t me!”
I watched her attempt this upward jump four times. However, she could not get her small round self up onto the head of the bed! Piza was a good jumper and regularly jumped from the floor to the bathroom counter-top to bother me – especially when I was trying to brush my teeth!
Finally, I realized she wasn’t getting a very good push-off because my pillow was way too big and fluffy soft. If she had been willing to leave the pillow and step down a few inches to the right - onto the firmer mattress, she could have easily jumped up there on the first try!
Watching Piza, I didn’t know whether to feel amused by her dilemma, or continue to nurse my irritation with her!
It was in this moment of decision that the Holy Spirit quietly spoke to my heart: “This is you!" "You prefer the comfortable places - even if it requires the breaking of my rules - rules that you either don't understand or don't agree with."
"This is you. You prefer the comfortable places even if you are hindered there from moving on!” said that still small voice.
"Guilty as charged" - rushed over me.
I do like comfort. Part of comfort is also the ease of following a black and white set of rules. (I might be a little lazy too?)
Had I bought into the American consumeristic culture that seeks comfort as its highest value - with self as the final arbiter in all things?
Yes, and that was evidenced by the fact that I had failed to apply for more difficult jobs - to step out in faith. I had failed to be more generous - spending money on my own comfort instead of on the needs of others. And I had even denied someone something as simple as an encouraging word . . . all in order to stay in my "comfort zone."
Insight was immediate.
My attitude and behavior were no better than Piza's.
I needed to change.
Why? Because . . .
1. Comfort is not the goal; the character of Christ is.
2. Life cannot be lived by a set of black and white rules. Jesus is the standard - and following him
is harder than following a checklist. It requires relationship.
3. And the biggest insight: “If you are in a hard place – do not despair! It is a better spot for leaping farther and higher! A hard place makes a better launch pad!”
Isn’t that good news? Soft and comfortable places may be restful - even needful at times, but if we examine our own lives honestly, we can admit that it is during the difficult times - in the hard places - that we grow and move forward. Hard places are launch pads to higher and better things. I was comforted to know that hard places have a purpose on my spiritual journey.
Thank you Piza for breaking the rule so through you I could be made aware of my own rule-breaking (sin), repent, get forgiveness, learn and grow, and move closer to becoming like Jesus and having a deeper relationship with Him.
May the rest of 2024 be a time of character growth, and an "increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."
And if you, dear reader, want to do the same, please pray with me . . .
“Oh Holy God, even though I enjoy the comfortable times and places, please forgive me for seeking them more than you and your will for my life. Give me the strength to endure hard places and the wisdom to know that this is not where I will remain, but that it is a launch pad to higher places in you. Deliver me from despair in hard places and restore my strength and courage to fearlessly move on - not following rules, but following You. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.”
Even when the cares of our own lives distract us,
and the news of our times distresses us . . .
remain abundant in hope, abounding in love, and abiding in peace . . .
continuing to live like there are still mysteries to be discovered,
thrills to be experienced, and insights to be uncovered.
Purpose to enjoy the adventure, to stay amazed,
and to live in curious kitten-like wonder with abandon.
It is a more excellent way.
Thanks for visiting and reading,
Lora -- The Kitten Theologian
* the "more excellent way" is a reference to I Cor. 12:31 which is the introduction to I Cor. 13, often called "The Love Chapter." A more excellent way - or way of living - is the way of LOVE.
I Cor, 13: 7, 8a, & 13 states that love: 7 Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails . . . 13And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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