Tuesday, 16 June 2009

• A lesson on the acceptance of grace...from a cat.

   Well, over Memorial Day weekend I adopted a cat.  Hadassah ...'dessah for short... wasn’t the feline I’d have picked, but the rescue operator thought her to be perfect for me.  I went to meet her at an adoption fair and was charmed, but slightly allergic.  Still, after several weeks of looking at other cats I couldn't get her out of my mind, so I brought her home for a week-long visit.  And now she’s here to stay.

  From what I knew of Hadassah, I expected her to be friendly, but I was taken aback at her trusting, extroverted approach to me.  This struck me in our first week together, 'cause I'd not have responded in that way.  Dessah had been dumped at a shelter for unspecified reasons/financial difficulties.  Had been abandoned.  Discarded like a worn-out toy.  I don’t mean to criticize her first owners as I don’t know what kind of people they are, but this little cat might have responded negatively to being left behind...but she didn't.  She never comes off as though she fears the same treatment from me, never crawls self-deprecatingly up to me when she has a need. 

  Despite her past, Dessah approaches me with the expectation of food, shelter, and love.  She comes to me for treats, crawls into my lap when she wants to cuddled, talks to me whenever she feels there’s something I need to know (and apparently I need to know a lot).  This cat comes to me with good expectations, without the baggage and titles of her past.

  I don’t get the “unwanted, discarded, abandoned” vibe from her….but I could.  She has every excuse to exhibit those and yet she seems to have accepted the grace that was extended.  I realize she’s a cat and none of these ideas have likely entered into her consciousness, but if they did, her behaviour would seem to indicate that she knows she’s been redeemed and completely accepts that. 

  My past is metaphorically not too different from Dessah's.  Used for a time, then discarded in nearly every relationship I've entered into.  It's resulted in my being very untrusting; makes me feel as though I’m worthless to others, unworthy of their time, and deficient in some hugely important way.  So I stick to my own company and have gotten to liking it that way.  And it makes sense that my attitude toward human-friendships has spilled over into the Jesus-friendship.

  I think that I approach both the world and God with an “unworthy, unwanted, discarded” demeanor,  and watching my new family member has made me really see that.  I’ve not accepted this essential fact of our Jesus: his death has bought our redemption.  His grace means that we have every right and reason and excuse to leave off with all of our old life and embrace all of our new.

  “Fear not, for I have redeemed you.  I have summoned you by name and you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
  “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”  Isaiah 43:1-3, NLT

  *Not for Revelife

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