A Reminder From My Mother’s Cat

I’ve always said that Alabama has some of the most magnificent thunder storms ever seen.  The clouds move quickly, changing shapes and colors as the sky itself can turn from white to grey to black in a matter of minutes.  Brilliant white lightening streaks across the black sky and thunder booms like rumbling base drums or cracks like an artillery of rifle fire.    I never want it to cause any harm or damage but the sheer enjoyment of its power I find exhilarating.  I love weather.  My mother’s cat does not.  She’s partially blind and lives on the front, screened in porch.  She likes to jump onto the rocking chair and then onto a flat, wooden platform, erected there for her own personal perch and look-out point.  Most often   Kitty is on the perch enjoying life.  In thunder storms, she’s on the floor, hiding behind the broom in the back corner.

Yesterday afternoon, when the sky sent out its first lightening streak and roll of thunder, I went out to the front porch to check on Kitty.  I sat in the rocker and looked behind me.  There was Kitty, eyes wide and pupils  round like marbles.  She was frozen in fear.  I called her name.  Nothing.  I put my hand down and tried to coax her to me.  Still nothing.  My attempts to soothe her were only met by the cat stare of fear.  It wasn’t until I stretched to reach back my hand and touched her head that any comforting relief came to her terrified self.   I continued to rub her head and in a minute or two, she eased out from behind her broom of protection.  She came nearer to me and huddled on the floor by the rocking chair I occupied.  Now I could stroke her whole body.  I felt her tightened muscles relax beneath my touch.  In another few minutes, to my absolute surprise, she walked over to her food bowl and had a few bites of her tasty, crunchy morsels.

Was it still thundering and lightening?  Yes.  Was it raining hard?  It was pouring!  The sound was deafening as it pelted the tin roof.  The storm was still there in all it’s ferociousness but the fear in Kitty was not.  I concluded her fear was gone simply because I had let her know…. “I’m here Kitty.  I’m here.”  I had touched her and my touch had brought her comfort that surpassed the fear of the storm.

You know what I’m thinking, don’t you.  It’s the same with our Father.  We know He’s around in the good times and the tough times.  Even so, the storms of life can paralyze us with fear.  No words comfort, no coaxing from well-meaning friends make any difference to the fear that grips us within.  Like Kitty beneath the thunder, we get caught in a cat stare of fear at what life throws at us.  We can’t move, think, sleep, we’re just afraid and we can’t help it.   It’s only the Father’s touch that can soothe away the worries and replace the fear with His own peace…..but does God actually touch us?  After all, we can’t see Him so how  can He possibly touch us?

Father God touches us where nothing in this world can; He touches us in our spirit where His own Holy Spirit resides.   The Holy Spirit lives in us; therefore, everything of God lives in us too.  God’s own peace lives in us.  God’s own joy lives in us.  God’s wisdom, strength, it all lives in us.  Everything we need, to know comfort in any storm, is available to us by His Spirit living in us.   But is that God touching us?  We must think in the spiritual and not in the physical when contemplating the touch of God.

A person may  give me a hug and that is a physical touch.  That touch can indeed bring comfort.  Hugging one another is a beautiful expression of love and comfort….but it’s temporary.  A person can’t hug me for hours or days at a time but the Holy Spirit, living in me, can touch me with a continuous peace that fills me with courage and even joy in the blackest of lifes’ storms.

When I call, He answers me and shows me wonderful things that I never knew before.  Jeremiah 33:3

When I’m scared, He reminds me that He is my God and He will strengthen me, and help me through anything, and will hold me up with His own right hand of righteousness.  Isaiah 41:10

When I’m alone, He lets me know that even if no human can be with me always, He Himself will never leave me.  Hebrews 13:5

When I must make a decision and I don’t know what to do, He guides me and whispers in my inner spirit with His Spirit in me…..This is the way.  Walk this way.  Isaiah 30:21

When I’m baffled at waiting for anything which unnerves me and makes me feel like screaming!!!… He reminds me that the strength I need is found in my own quietness and show of confidence before Him.  He also reminds me that often He waits today, only to bless me more greatly tomorrow.   Isaiah 30: 15 & 18

Father longs to touch me and you everyday with all the comfort, all the joy, all the guidance, all the peace, all the courage, all the wisdom we need to get through any storm of life.  We ignore His promptings to let Him touch us spiritually when we first try to figure it all out by ourselves.  I’ve done this more times than I can count and every time I end up like Kitty, hiding behind the broom of what I don’t understand, thinking I’ll feel protected, when all along, there is Father with His Words that are Living Words (John 1:1-5).  His own living, life-giving words are always ready to touch our inner spirits with all we need to get safely through any storm.