Sunday was a lovely day of celebration. My parents attended service at our church, and then we met at my house for a turkey dinner.  My oldest son and his girlfriend joined us. The meal was delicious and the conversation lively.  Every one left around 2:00 and the kids and I were to enjoy a peaceful afternoon.  My husband had to work, but was home early. This made the day especially nice.

 The kids had taken the dogs for a walk and the house was quiet.  At this point I have to say that I think our cat has an identity problem. We have never had an outdoor cat so her behavior is new territory for us. Left to her own devices, she usually stays within the perimeter of our home.  She does the usual things I would expect from a cat, chasing birds, catching mice and lizards and leaving them as ‘gifts’ at the front door, and other cat like things.  But she has an appetite for dog food and whenever the kids take the dogs for a walk she follows beside them as if she, too, wants to go for a walk.  We really didn’t see a problem with this because she follows the dogs closely and always comes back with them.  Well Sunday there was an incident that has put an end to her walks.  My son was walking his dog and got about half way around the mile long block when another dog confronted them.  He had picked up the cat in one hand and had the leash in the other when the other dog expressed his distaste for them being in his territory.  My son dropped the cat that proceeded to take off and shot up a tree.  Not knowing exactly what to do he ran home and frantically told the story.  He went back to the site, asked the dog owners to put the dog up, and tried to coax the cat out of the tree, but with no results.  He even climbed the tree beside it trying to reach her, but she was very uncooperative.  By this time the sun had begun to go down.  He returned to the house and I told him to wait a while and that I have never seen a cat skeleton in a tree, so I was sure that she would come down.  About half an hour later, my husband suggested that I go see if I could get her down.  So armed with her container of cat treats, my son and I headed over to the scene.  There she was, sitting on the thinnest twig about 20 feet up. (wish I had the foresight to bring the camera) I couldn’t believe that she hadn’t fallen.  After about 15 minutes of trying to entice her with treats, I knew that we were going to have to do something drastic.  So we returned home and got our ladder.  My husband thought we were nuts and was very frustrated by the whole situation.  Now picture this, it’s now dusk, we have our ladder sticking out the back of our Tahoe, and we drive half way around the block to get a cat that thinks she’s a bird out of a neighbor’s tree.  If our neighbor’s didn’t think we were crazy before, I’m sure they do now.  We tried to be quiet, but my son had never extended a ladder before, so discretion was out of the question.  After he finally let me show him how to do it, we put the ladder against the tree.  By this time we had drawn a small crowd.  Some of the neighbors had come out to offer their advice as to how to achieve the desired results. In the first attempt the ladder was too short, but after extending it a bit more, my son was able to pry her from her perch.  Needless to say, now when the kids walk the dogs, she is to be put in the house.

You may wonder why I decided to share this bit of comedy in our lives.  While the events of the evening were unfolding, I saw an image of how our walk in life can be compared to the incident.  Sometimes we are like that cat, thinking everything is normal as we go about our daily lives.  Then all of a sudden, a big dog enters in and chases us up a tree, leaving us nowhere to go and helpless.  The things that would usually bring us down from our perches have no affect. Outsiders offer advice and help, but they fall short of what we need. Then the Father extends the ladder of  His Word, and it almost reaches us, but we fall short of understanding.  Finally, after trying again, His wisdom reaches our hearts and we are rescued and brought safely to the grounding of His plan.  Sometimes, like that crazy cat, something in our lives shakes us up to keep us closer to Him and in the safety of His direction.

 Psalm 16:10-11

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.