Kitty Waits and Waits and Waits

Many of you who have been reading my blogs over the years will be familiar with Kitty, our partially blind cat, who lives on the front closed-in porch.  That is her world. She is happy there, never wanting to go out into what she cannot see or understand.  What can she see?  Me.  She knows when I’m there.  She holds her head up waiting for me to stroke her head and softly tickle beneath her chin.  She adores my attention.  She trusts me.

Every morning about 7:00am I open the door, knowing she will be right there, staring at the door, waiting for me to bring her breakfast.  It’s the same everyday.  She never waivers in her waiting for me.  What amazes and touches me deeply, is how long she will wait — until I open the door.  Most mornings I am right on time but there have been days when, for various reasons, I have been late.  I remember one such morning when I was an hour late.  Oh, no!  I thought to myself, poor Kitty!  I imagined her being upset, perhaps panicking about her breakfast, but no such thing took place.  Kitty was waiting  at the door.

She did not appear to be worried at my delay.  In fact, she behaved as if everything was as it should be.  She sat and waited as I closed the door behind me and stooped down to stroke her head and tickle her chin, just as I always did.  Then, on cue when I stopped the petting, she walked over to her food bowl, looking up expantantly.  I could tell that there was no doubt in her understanding that she would be fed that morning.  There was no despair in having to wait to be attended to; she trusted me, and she waited for me.  In her little cat’s mind, she knew I would come and all would be well.

Oh, if only we humans could display such trust in our Heavenly Father.  He tells us in Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord.”  We don’t like waiting.  We want what we want, and we want it now!  Our Father knows what we need and He knows when we need it.  When he delays, it is not because He has become disinterested; it is because He loves deeply, waiting for our own good.

You and I can be delayed because we forget, or we’re feeling non-motivated, or we are providentially hindered.  That is never the case with our Father.  He never forgets, He is always motivated in His sweet love for us, and it is impossible for anything to stop Him.  He knows what troubles us.  He knows when we hurt.  He knows the longings of our heart.  Therefore, with perfect timing, He will bring about His purposes in our lives.  At the right moment He will open the door to deliver His blessings just as I open the door to bring Kitty her breakfast.

Father is always on time, so let us wait with trusting hearts.  Let us wait with peace reigning in our minds.  Let us not engage in despair which can lead to anger, but let us wait, as Kitty does, knowing beyond all doubt, the door will open and a breakfast of goodness will be served.