A Lost Cat
When you move, you have to pay special attention to your cat. Cats are notorious for wandering. They have a broad range they like to cover, exploring and investigating. The first month we were in Swartz Creek, we kept our cat (who has always been an outside cat) locked up in a garage – for a month. She did not see the light of day for 30 days. When we moved into our house, we kept her in the garage for another week.
But cats have “free will.” They have to explore. It is in their nature to seek out new things. There is a reason why “Curiosity killed the cat” has entered into our language. Thus, we let our cat have the opportunity to go outside; she sniffed around and came back in. The next day, I let her out. It took two days for her to return but she did. In the meanwhile, Dad was a little worried, thinking he might have to move in with the dog!
We have since allowed the cat – Ginger – to come in and out as she pleases. Generally, she comes in during the day and goes out at night – typical of a cat. She disappeared a second time and was gone for two days. But, most recently, she disappeared for three or four days. But, she came back home – to the delight of the girls.
Losing an inanimate object does not necessarily draw out the emotions as losing a pet. There seems to be an attachment that pets create with their owners that objects do not. We miss them. But – as with cats – we understand that they have to wander. They have to be themselves. But we are thankful, relieved that they were not injured, and joyful when they come home.
Certainly, that is similar to God’s feelings about human beings. Free will is inherent in human beings. In fact, it seems to me that “free” is redundant as applied to “will.” I’m not sure you can even have a “will” if it is not free. So, God created human beings inherently with a will. We can choose.
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God lifted the garage door with Adam and Eve and man wandered outside. Some men and women wander outside and never return. All of us wander outside from time to time, testing the limits, exploring the boundaries. While we are gone, it pains God’s heart. He knows that He has provided and continues to provide everything we need. He knows that we cannot be saved, if we are outside the door. But still, we wander outside.
While we are gone, God misses us. But when we return, He is thankful, relieved (as it were), and joyful that His sons and daughters have come home.
“‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:22-24). That’s the response God has when His children come back home.
That’s the response we ought to have when a child of God comes back home.
–Paul Holland
