OK. First, I just want to complain for a moment about how sore I am. Today at the restaurant I started painting a 10-foot ceiling, and I must have gone up that ladder about 100 times. Oh, my knees, my thighs, and my arms. I'm going to feel it in the morning.
Now that that's well established…
This morning before I went off to the restaurant, I made some time to read my Bible and a little devotional. I have been feeling frustrated lately that I don't feel as close to God as I have in the past. Today was beginning to seem like another spiritually dry session, when the kitty climbed up on my lap.
I am always so happy when she chooses to cuddle with me. She curled right up and began purring away. After a little bit, she stretched up and started licking the tip of my nose. I know it's her way of showing affection. And then I started crying.
I cried because it struck me, somehow, that this was a good picture of me and God. Just as I am truly delighted that the kitty seems to find comfort, security and rest in me, so also is God when I turn to Him for those things. It has nothing to do with my performance, it has everything to do with the fact that I approached Him confident that I would be welcomed.
When the kitty "kisses" me, I am so pleased, not because she loves me in any full or complete way. I love her in a much more complex, consistent way. In fact, many of her inclinations seem to be very self-centered. In addition her tongue is very rough, and, to tell the truth, sometimes she has bad breath. But her affection brings me joy and fulfillment.
In the same way, I am unable to love God completely or totally, and His love for me is infinitely greater. I love him as well as I can, but I know it is a very rough, unrefined love. I am probably unintentionally offensive to Him at times.
And yet I bring joy and delight to His heart. Just by being. Just by wanting to be near Him.
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