I have made much about my little cat Mali coming when she is called. And she does. But typically, it is with the idea of a food reward at the end. And when I call, it is with a commanding voice. Still, she does come. I'm told that is unusual for a cat.
I am home most evenings. In June I was gone several days to She Speaks. I'm not totally sure when the last time I had been away from home for a night had been. I know it hadn't been since I had Mali, and I adopted her the end of November. That would have made it 7 months. Since getting back from She Speaks, I've noticed a little more independence on both their parts. My cats use to be in the same room I was about 95% of the time. Now, it has dropped to about 80% of the time. Still, I am told, that is really quite a lot for cats.
It use to be that as soon as I turned the lights off downstairs and headed up to bed, both of them would follow. Katy, however, has begun lingering downstairs. Though it probably sounds a bit silly, it made me a little anxious at first. I liked to snuggle with her at night. Still, she did usually find way up by the time I finished reading.
The last few days, I've realized that if I am done reading and she hasn't come up, I start calling out to her in a gentle voice, "Katy. Katy love! Katy. Katy love!" Since she now wears a bell, I can hear her coming from downstairs. She hops onto the bed to be snuggled and petted. Her reward (and probably mine) is totally relational.
While God could command our attention and we could come solely out of the idea of a reward, I think that God calls us more out of a desire for relationship. He calls like I call Katy -- "Amy. Amy love!" While He deserves to be worshiped for His majesty, I believe His heart is about the relationship. Why else would He call us His People, His sons and daughters? There is hope in knowing that God calls out of deep desire for relationship.
Do you have the hope that comes from responding to His call?
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