Daddy, I’m going to pray my cat comes home.”
This morning, I was reminded of my daughter’s prayer when she was only 5 or 6 years-old. Some things in your memory just stay with you. This is one of them.
On a bright fall day, before my children were born, I was finishing up a bicycle ride that started at my Grandmother’s house and meandered through a local park. As I stopped at a four-way stop sign, I heard the weak sound of a kitten. I looked around and saw nothing until I heard the “plop
The desperate meowing grew louder as she came towards me. Her little skinny body and the pitiful sounds melted my heart! When I picked her up and cradled her in my hand next to the warmth of my body she began to purr loudly. I rode the last mile to my Grandmother’s house with the little furry sweetheart close to my heart in my left hand and the other hand on my handlebars. A very dangerous situation that prohibited me from shifting gears.
We feed her. She lapped up the milk and anything else we pulled from the refrigerator. Once she was feeling better, she showed-off her tree climbing skills. We were impressed that such a little kitten could race up the big oak tree so fast! She seemed at home in the tree.
From that day forward, Puss (from the story of Puss N Books) became a member of our little family. She grew to become a sleek athletic cat who preferred the outdoors. She was there waiting when we brought home all three of our children. She was always curious and protective of the new babies. As they grew older, the girls would dress Puss in doll clothes and push her around in a baby buggy. She endured her role as their infant for a while but eventually would jump out and run off…The girls would giggle and laugh as Puss shook her legs to kick off the remaining doll clothes!
During any holiday requiring fireworks, we kept Puss indoors because fireworks would frighten her, but on one 4th of July, she escaped to her beloved outdoors early in the day and we couldn’t find her as the day grew darker and the fireworks began. But, we didn’t worry because she always showed up.
The next morning, Puss did not scratch on the front window of the living room wanting in as was her usual custom. Sadly, one day turned into a week and a week into a month. My heart sank as I imagined a hawk or coyote snatching her up!
I was surprised that my oldest daughter said nothing about her missing furry sister. Almost three months later, I gave up and decided to put away Puss’s food bowl that was left out just in case she came home. Her food had long since been thrown away.
As I was thinking about this, my 5 or year-old daughter asked,
“Daddy, where is my cat?”
“I don’t know. Sweetheart. I think she may have found a new home.”
“Well, I”m going to pray she will come home.”
So she, her Mom, and I knelt at the foot of the floral-design living room couch where my doubting heart heard the simple precious words of my sweet little girl petition the God of the universe to send her little cat home. As she prayed I wondered how to tell her that Puss would probably never return. But then I thought I heard a familiar desperate meow. My heart jumped as the scratching at the back door began, accompanied by another weak meow. My wife and I looked at each other in unbelief, but my daughter jumped up and exclaimed as she ran, “My cat is home!”
We fed the skinny cat who lapped up the milk and anything else we could find in the refrigerator, just like the first time I brought her home!
Coincidence? I think not. Had the cat been living in the woods off mice or fed at someone else’s home? Probably. But, God in His great wisdom anticipated the sincere prayer of a little girl and sent Puss home.
God’s omnipotence is a hard thing for us to understand, but examples of the simple faith of a child demonstrate He knows our desires and needs before we ever ask for them.
“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24