A Manx Kitten, an English Poet, and the Hound of Heaven

This little devotional inspired by Bob, the Manx kitten, and written almost a year ago persisted in my thoughts this week. Our society criticizes, compares, and commends. Yet only Jesus, with His love and forgiveness offered to those who seek Him, can cast aside all detrimental baggage and literally allow a person a new beginning when He is embraced and His commands obyed.

Bob on the Outside of the Fence

     Bob, the lovable Manx kitten, had managed to get outside the chain link fence, the boundary for my parents’ large yard. (To read more about Bob, see The Four Little Kittens that was posted on April 27, 2014, The Orphan Kittens - Almost 90 Days Old published on July 6, 2014, or Advice From Bob for a Successful Season of Holidays posted on November 16, 2014) Stray cats with much more attitude and prowess than little Bob often roamed outside the yard fence. Bob had climbed onto the little brick bench so he could leap through the narrow opening between the gate and the fence post. He ran into the storage shed as soon as he escaped the confines of the yard fence. Then he raced out to the area where hay bales had been stored in the winter. How excited he was to be outside the restraint of the fence! Then he noticed me getting Tailer, his litter mate. Suddenly, Bob wanted back in the protective, loving confinement of the yard fence. He began running along the fence looking for any possible way to get into the yard. Amidst his frantic attempts, I opened the gate, lovingly gave him a stroke or two as I carried him into the yard.

     As I put Bob down and felt him gently rubbing against my shoes, I remembered how God retrieves us from the waywardness of our choices. Francis Thompson, a gifted poet of the 1800s, but also an opium addict, eloquently described the pursuit of God toward sinful, rebellious humans in his poem, The Hound of Heaven. The introductory lines –

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

 Thompson writing in the voice of God near the end of the poem says –

Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

“Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He whom thou seekest!

      Disobedience is not unique to Francis Thompson, a substance abuser of the 19^th century, or to the bob-tail kitten. The Bible states in Isaiah 53:6 “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the guilt and sins of us all.” (TLB) This scripture places all humans in the same category of willfulness. 

      Jesus continued the wandering sheep analogy when he taught using the illustration of the lost sheep. He explained a good shepherd would go in search of the errant sheep. He spoke of the rejoicing when the shepherd returned with the reclaimed lamb. Jesus concluded the illustration’s application in Luke 15:7 speaking of the joy in heaven over a wayward person rejecting rebellious ways to turn to embrace God and His way.

      How many times are we like Thompson, running harder as God pursues us gently but persistently? May we be more like Bob, the sweet little orange and white kitten, and realize we can only be safe and satisfied in the loving Presence of very Lord of Heaven. Recognizing our sinful ways, we can turn away from them, and run into the embrace of the steady, never weakening God of forgiveness and restoration. At that moment, the celebration in heaven begins!*

 *Jesus taught about this celebration in Luke 15:7 and 10. 

A photo of Bob around the time the above devotional was
written.