Three weeks ago, I drove my sister home from the Humane Society with two two-day old kittens in tow. The time between then and now has been filled with disrupted sleep, messy cleanups and LOTS of growing and cuddling as these little fluffpuffs have learned to feed, walk, and sense the world around them. What better analogy to the way that God tenderly guides us through our rocky lives can be found?
"... How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (second part of Matthew 23:37). From the day these kittens first blindly stumbled across my lap to now as they lift their little tummies off of the ground to explore their surroundings, my sister has carefully watched their movements and gently corrected their direction when they have tottered near a drop or hovered close to dark gaps between furniture. They still know little about their surroundings, and as my sister observes them she frequently pulls them back to the safety of her lap. So does God long to guide us back to His arms, to safety, when we recklessly stumble through our lives, oblivious to the dangers that our own stubborn actions can lead us towards. There will be a time, though, when we have to let these kittens grow up and make their own decisions despite our desire to keep them safe under our supervision, just as God allows us to discover the consequences to our own actions before we finally relent and ask for help.
