Milky Way

Well, I have a cat.  I didn’t ask for the cat.  It proactively sought attachment to my residence.  I am uncertain whether the cat even respects the fact that I have tolerated “it”.  I say “it” because I don’t know if “it” is male or female.  “It” had no name when “it” arrived that I was aware of.  My granddaughter named “it” Milky Way.  Two-word cat names are undesirable.  Name them Bo, or Spot.  It doesn’t matter as long as you say it when the chow is dropped in the bowl.  They’ll remember it and respond.  However, two-name cats may think you are calling them and someone else.  That leads to unwanted and unwarranted cat friction.  That is unsettling, especially when no other cat is present.  (The cat’s brain is wired to be unpredictable.)  I would have called “it” It.  It is a good name for a cat.
Now you may wonder why I didn’t check the gender of that cat.  It because it is the most raggedy looking cat I have seen, scruffy from nose to claw. I would call “it” Scruffy, but I hope to improve “its” condition.  It looks like it has been, well, in a cat fight.  A rather volatile cat fight at that.  I do not want to touch its mangy exterior.  Further, “it” is a bit skittish and occasionally growls when I get too close.
The fact is, I do not wish to be near the nasty critter lest it somehow transmit some of its degradation on me.  However, I began feeding the unfortunate mammal.  So now you must be asking why I even bothered to befriend “it” at all.  Maybe because I’m a sucker for impossible cases such as Milky Way.  Okay, I felt pity for “it”.  The mendicant feline may be too far gone to restore to a proper standard, at least to cat dignity.  And cats are way too dignified to suit me.  In any case, pity outweighs my repulsion.

Therefore, I took on the project whilst holding my nose and trying to ignore “its” sorry hide—partially missing and matted with filth.  After feeding “it” some table food, I purchased some tins of cat food.  Milky Way eagerly consumes it all.  However, the highlight of “its” cuisine is no doubt the occasional table food. 

After a number of good meals, Milky Way is beginning to show signs of recovering “its” fur.  Further, “it” is beginning to lose fear of me.  I’m beginning to expect a full recovery from Milky Way.  It is possible that “it” will look like a regular cat again in another week or two.  I might even attempt petting “it”.
Why should I help such a lost cause?  What compels me, who has important things to do, who obviously doesn’t need or want a cat, to care about this mangy stray?  Why did God help me?  I must have been more repulsive than Milky Way.  But God loved and loves me—there is no doubt.  He also had incomprehensible mercy and grace for me.  I didn’t deserve it.  I came to Him in my sin-ravaged condition, filthy and repulsive.  But He did not turn me away.  I believe He put mercy in my heart.

It doesn’t matter where we’ve been, how much we’ve sinned, or how bad our condition—His infinite, merciful love reaches out.  The only thing required is to come and fully surrender to His will.  He won’t leave us in our filthy and depleted condition.  He intends to restore us not harm us every time we come before Him beseeching His mercy and grace.  We don’t deserve it.  We didn’t do anything to earn it.  It is simply a matter of His love and compassion.
So I had mercy on Milky Way.  I want “it” to recover and become a spectacular cat.  I also hope that it will move on to another venue, but that’s probably not going to happen.  Now that I am identified as the source of food, that cat is here to stay. 
One last thought is that we don’t have to move away from God, from the source of sustenance.  God will feed and nurture us.  If we become empty, we can come and He will feed us again.  Sometimes I come before Him tattered and beaten down by trials.  He is always receptive.  He never shuts the door in my face.  I can come into the Holiest through The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He has helped me when I thought situations were beyond any solution.  How much more does He care for me than I do for Milky Way?  Thank God for His infinite mercy and grace!