One year after Hurricane Katrina, with the Gulf Coast still in the midst of utter devastation, I found 5 newborn kittens in my garage. We had stored what little furniture could be salvaged from our home in Metairie after the storm in the garage in Long Beach, Mississippi, while we were working on restoring that house. Every weekend, we drove from New Orleans to Long Beach to work on the house, and while we were there, we would leave the garage open to air out the furniture.
Evidently, a very pregnant mama cat had found a comfortable place one weekend to have her kittens, and unknowingly, we closed the garage with mama and 5 babies inside and headed back to New Orleans for the week. The next weekend, we opened the garage again, still not knowing that we had visitors inside. But we stayed only one day, during which time mama cat, apparently very thirsty and hungry after nursing her kittens for a week, left the garage. Again, we closed the garage and left for the week, leaving 5 nursing kittens inside without their mama. According to the neighbors, the poor mama cat returned later and could not get to her babies. She cried and screamed unceasingly, but the neighbors had no idea what the problem might be. By the time we arrived the next weekend, mama cat had disappeared. Opening the garage, we discovered 5 very weak and almost dead newborn kittens.
I scoured the neighborhood for an eyedropper, obtained some canned milk, and began feeding the babies every 3 hours around the clock --- finally taking them back to New Orleans with us that week. One of the kittens eventually died, but four survived. We gave one to a friend and kept three. What wonderful and loving companions they have been to us for the past 17 years! Now they are part of the family and readily come to us for whatever they need or want.
As I reflected this morning about the joy our pets give us when they so trustingly depend upon us for their needs, I was reminded of two biblical verses:
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it (Psalm 81)
God gives us all things richly to enjoy (1 James)
Psalm 81 begins with a song of thanksgiving: Sing for joy to God our strength....begin the music, strike the tambourine.... The reason for their joy was that God had rescued them from the slavery of Egypt:
He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you. I answered you out of a thundercloud.... I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it....you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you."
As we so love satisfying the needs of our pets, especially those we have rescued from dangerous or deadly situations, so God our Father delights in satisfying the needs of those He has rescued from the powers of darkness. It is not simply "salvation from sin" that delights God, but actually providing for His children. He did not rescue them from Egypt to leave them in the desert, but He always planned for them to richly enjoy the land of milk and honey also.
Jesus never upbraided anyone for asking too much; he delighted in answering the requests of those who came to Him. "Ask me," He says; "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it."
I love taking care of my pets, and I love when they come to me and curl up by my side in utter contentment, their needs satisfied and now wanting only the comfort of my presence. So it is with the God and Father revealed to us by Jesus Christ!
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