By The Grace of God I Am

But by the grace of God I am what I am

1 Cor 15:8

A weekend morning. Sleeping late. Striped sunbeams streaming in the window and if an artist’s brush captures this moment, Susie, Deliah and I slumber peacefully. We are undisturbed by alarm clocks or traffic or phones. It is a gloriously serene and quiet Sunday.

I have not always appreciated this silence—the empty spaces of times allotted for rest and reflection. Life was meant to busy oneself in. Now, life is different.

Susie’s and Deliah’s entry into my life provided me pause. Cats by their own design possess the wisdom to spend a great deal of time resting in order to have a great deal of time living.

Susie and Deliah descend from an ancestry revered by Egyptian Pharaohs who believed that cats had already experienced the rebirth that they, too, were about to embark on. Like many cat owners, the Pharaohs recognized what great companions cats would be in this journey. Likewise, the Egyptians bestowed upon one of their goddesses, Bastnet, the features of a cat, and believed she brought many blessings upon a household. An inscription on a pyramid in Thebes recognizes the respect and esteem that cats held in Egyptian society:

Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed…the Great Cat.

Each of us carries a little magic or a little wisdom or a little miracle in our pockets. Sometimes, we carry it quite unawares. I doubt that Susie or Deliah know how greatly they have influenced my life. Delivering God’s blessings through being exactly who we are is the blessing.