Family

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Forgiven by our cat

It all happened during a flea war…. Out of sheer ignorance we decided to dip both our cats in a desperate attempt to finally getting rid of the fleas. Well, if you know more about cats than we used to…and I’m sure you do! You will know that we nearly, got rid of the cats! The result of this stupidity was awful. It was sad… Tragic. We watched our one cat Lila, becoming desperately ill and blind. She lost her balance and got thinner by the day. She started hiding away and we knew the inevitable would happen if we didn’t act fast!

At the time we had a very tight budget as my husband was doing fulltime studies and I was trying to keep the pot cooking. We couldn’t wait any longer. Close to their final hour, both cats ended up at the vet. The vet was furious. After two days in the vet hospital, we could not afford a cent more. The one cat seemed to be OK but Lila still looked very ill. We explained to the vet that we had to discharge them and the only thing we could do was to continue to pray for the cats. The bill was already over our budget limit and we just could not afford it any longer.

Very sad and feeling very guilty, we took them home. Lila went straight to our daughter’s room, climbed onto the cupboard and stayed there. For two, solid weeks she was too weak to walk. We regularly gave her food, but couldn’t see that she ate anything. We waited. And waited. The inevitable was about to happen…

Surprisingly, she started walking on very wobbly legs. Gradually, slowly but surely she recovered, but has never been the same. Since then, she lost her trust in most of the family members and didn’t want to come close to us. Since that incident, about 6 years ago she chose to be friends only with our son …Incredibly, she seemed to have remembered what we had done to her and didn’t trust us anymore.

The other family members felt sad and dejected. No matter how hard we tried, she just didn’t want to have anything to do with us. Bringing her close to water when we had to wash her was totally out of the question.

She definitely seemed to be scarred psychologically…if that could happen to a cat? She became even more withdrawn than before and since that incident, she has been a wandering cat. At least once a year, she disappeared. Even for days! When we think we had finally lost her, she re-appears. Out of the blue! Nine lives indeed… or maybe more?

Recently this happened again. She had been away for about five days when my husband and I heard a sound at the window. It was Lila! We switched on the light as she came into the room. She looked terrible. Most of her back and hind legs were covered in oil! Though the children were all shocked when they saw in what a state she was, they were delighted to see her again. We realized we had to wash her to stop her from licking off the oil. The problem was: how?

We had to strategise and plan every detail, before we attempted anything!

What an impossible assignment! We had to get stockings to put her into for the washing procedure…exactly what we had done during the Big Mistake so many years ago. We had to get everything ready. The whole family got together in the bathroom and the main thing: without HER knowing that SHE was going to be part of the modus operandi! It was impossible to capture Lila, especially if she didn’t want to be caught.

We prepared Super 10 and LDC (my mother’s quick fix solution for most washable problems in life!) in warm water. Totally unaware that she was the main star in this drama, she entered the bathroom to observe what was happening.

Yes! We closed the bathroom doors and got towels ready.

We wondered how to make it clear to her that this was in her best interest and that this time we knew what we were doing. We spoke to her in calm voices. We purred. My husband grabbed her instantly and took her to the basin. He put her in and we all started washing off the oil ……

Something amazing was happing.

She was lying quietly, patiently, moaning softly and allowing us to wash off the black, sticky oil.

She didn’t try to escape!

What a miracle after all these years!

Somehow, she understood what we had to do. What an opportunity to earn her trust after all these years.

We were amazed. We were grateful! We experienced forgiveness from our cat.

Some of us are just like Lila. Just like she eventually realized that she needed to be washed clean, we need to recognize the black, sticky oil of our sin.

Only then will we realize He is the Only One who can wash us clean.

Only then, will we stop running away and entrust ourselves to our Father.

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