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Parables
of the Pastor’s Cats
He Talks with Me
I talk to the cats. I
understand that they aren't people and they don't really understand me,
but I can't help it. I talk to them anyway. But that's not the
interesting part.
I have a cat that talks back.
He keeps to his language, and I keep to mine, which makes communication
a bit difficult, but the exchange of ideas can be fascinating. 
He doesn't meow, as most
cats do. Near as I can tell, he grumbles and whines and pouts. He has a
little trill sound, half a purr and half a meow. Just a little rrrrrrow
that rises at the end like a question.
Then there's the grumble. A long drawn-out mrrrrrow, usually spoken
under his breath as
he walks away. The scowl adds to the general sense of disgust.
I don't know what all this chatter means. But the words are usually
reserved for me.
And usually they accompany an insistence on his part that I take him
for a walk through the grove or down the driveway. It isn't enough for
him to go for a walk. I have to go with him.
So there we are, trudging through the weeds, and he is grumbling and
mrrrrrowing and demanding my attention, preferably to the exclusion of
all the other cats.
It's as if he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me that
I am his own.
I've sung a song like that more than a few times. But in the song, it
is God who walks with me in the grove.
It's a popular hymn. And amazing, in its own way. Amazing that God
would want to pull me aside to walk only with him. Amazing that he
would carry on a conversation for a few moments only with him.
I have to admit that I am flattered by the attention of our big tomcat.
He has other things to do, but he demands my time. He puts aside his
busy schedule of sitting in the sun or tormenting the smaller cats to
walk with me and tell me about his deepest feelings.
And even if he really may not have that much to say, he still wants to
have me
around. So that's something pretty cool.
I clear my schedule. I set aside time to walk with the cat, because I
value our time together.
God does the same. He clears his schedule. He walks with me. He talks
with me. Even when I have very little to say.
And he tells me something very important. Know what it is?
Our tomcat does.
(The song is called "In the Garden," and
you can find it in many hymnals.)
Open my eyes so that I might see great and
wonderful things in your word.
Psalm 119:18
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