This past weekend I’ve been taking care of my cat, Baby, while my parents have been out of town. If you’ve never met Baby, she is the most snuggly and sassy cat I’ve ever met with a deep passion for Fancy Feast and cuddles. At fourteen years old, she doesn’t have any more teeth, and by no teeth, I mean NONE. Like, legit toothless. So she has to be fed wet food a couple times a day. I say all of that because I never thought I’d be sitting here on the floor eating my ice cream with this cat next to me and learning profound life lessons at the same time.
Throughout this weekend, I’ve discovered that while Baby loves to eat food, she really wants to be loved most of all. While I was running around doing 10 million things (very much being a Martha this weekend on my part Luke 10:38-42) I noticed she wasn’t eating as much as she usually does and was taking to sitting in a far corner behind a chair in my bonus room instead of her usual spots.
Frustrated and with 10 million more things to do, I was like, why doesn’t this cat EAT?? Was the salmon flavored food not the move? Should I have maybe tried the chicken gravy as well??
Exhausted, I sat on the floor and she came out behind the chair and just sat with me, softly purring after I gave her a few good pats. That’s when I realized that Baby was needing to be loved on and sat with just as much as she needed another can of Fancy Feast.
And it got me thinking about my own life. How I can feel so empty in my emotional needs even though my physical needs are being met. How important love, connection, and just being present are. How deeply I need that in my own life. Friendship, being known, and given a good hug. All of those things are as important as the food we eat, and when we’re lacking those things, it can make us neglect our physical needs too, further contributing to the spiral of emotions and wellbeing.
It also got me thinking about how all my cat really wanted from me deep down (behind 2 bowls of various flavored cat foods) was just for me to sit and pet and hold her and tell her I love her a whole lot. I can get so caught up in the “doing” of life that I forget to simply be a Mary and be present where I’m at with the people I’m with. To sit with Jesus and to let Him love me and hold me and be my Dad. And if all I did today was just to sit and let God love me, that would be enough. He’s a good Father and He knows what I need, even when I don’t.
So here I am, 9:30 at night sitting with my cat on my un-vacuumed floor eating a bowl of ice cream and it’s enough.
It’s enough.
He’s enough.
I’m enough.
And to my cat: I’m sorry I don’t know which flavor of Fancy Feast is your favorite quite yet, I’ll get there, I promise. 😉
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