Jump!

Ok. Just one more lesson I learned from my blind cat:

She is so afraid of falling.

And why shouldn’t she be? She can’t see what’s below…or what’s ahead of her…or how far down it is. Scary stuff. So, she sits on the ottoman and meows and meows and meows, wanting someone, anyone, to show her the way to safety.

I watched her for a full ten minutes today as she tried to descend from an eighteen inch high ottoman. Even though she had just climbed up there moments before, her little pea brain obviously couldn’t remember how far down “safety” was (I say this with affection). If I were a cat, I think I would remember, but maybe not. Anyway, she circled round and round on top of the little stool—getting precariously close to the edges, but not daring to take the plunge to the floor. She kept crying and crying because she was in what she perceived as danger. And I kept watching and watching (of course she didn’t know that I was there; she can’t see…or hear). Every once in awhile, she would just stop and lay her little head on her paws and seemingly give up the struggle. But then she would get up again and start circling. When she finally became desperate to descend, she got a little braver and stretched herself out flat on the ottoman reaching her front paws beyond the edges until finally she found the wood beam supporting the structure below, she pulled herself farther, then did a somersault off the thing. I guess blind cats don’t always land on all fours.

Normally, after seeing her struggle so, I will have pity and lift her down myself. Today, though, I wanted to see what would happen if I let her face her fears. I didn’t think she could hurt herself too badly (although she may be wearing a helmet next time you visit) and I wanted her to learn that sometimes she just has to trust that the floor will catch her. She needed to learn to jump to safety even though she couldn’t see. But...I’m pretty sure she didn’t learn any of these things and will just do the same thing next time—silly cat (I say this with affection).

Aren’t we like that? We get ourselves stuck somewhere and we feel like we can’t get down. We cry and complain and try everything we can think of to get off our little “ottomans”. But we forget that safety just takes a little “jump” of trust. Then, when we do decide to jump, we hold onto our folly with our front paws because we are so terrified, and we end up falling on our heads. All because we neglected to remember our last jump in the dark.

God wants us to trust Him in the dark. He can be trusted—even when we can’t imagine the outcome.

He is TRUST-WORTHY. And we are blind cats who forget.

Let’s start remembering…and jumping.

Try it! You’ll land in His hands.

And you won’t even need a helmet.

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God. My times are in your hands…”

Psalm 31:14-15