Faith

Wonders of the House

by Terry Barlow
12/27/18
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My wife and I have the privilege of caring for a couple of kitties while their owners are away on vacation. In the process of taking care of the kitties we are also taking care of the house in which they live. It is a spacious expansive (expensive too probably) house where the kitties roam daily to their hearts’ content. Wonders and diversions and discoveries abound for them, whether it be the little kittie gadgets strewn over the floors or the canvas cylinder tunnels they poke and dart and chase in and out of (even in a synchronized way from twin tunnels) or the perches at various windows where they take in the view of the lawns, including a bird feeder which draws especially intense attention.

It occurred to me this morning that the kitties and the house are a wonderful metaphor for God’s children inhabiting God’s “house”. There are wonders and playgrounds full of amusements and challenges planted all around us, and views and perspectives on all sides of the world and of others and glimpses of ourselves that we cannot ever seem to exhaust.   We enjoy watching the kitties enjoy one another as they chase about and grapple with each other.  Just as my wife and I delight in watching the kitties play and explore and inquire, so the Heavenly Father delights in our explorations and enjoyment of His House which is His family in His presence. He too delights in our delight in one another and in seeing us be true companions to One another, sometimes going round and round playfully or less playfully tilll we collapse exhausted side by side.  Still every so often we have to draw the line with the kitties and say, “No” and clap our hands to shoo them off the kitchen counter or off of and out of other forbidden places. So must God do with us occasionally to keep us out of mischief in His House or to rescue us when we’ve already impetuously and impulsively or reactively plunged into a trouble zone. If we are honest it is probably more than occasional, it is frequent. It may be merely in our thought life or mood, or in a more obvious and visible way that we tend to stray, but thank God Someone is watching and clapping, sometimes appreciatively and other times not so much!