Tag: love

Bible Verses, Our Christian Walk

The Deep, Deep Love…

Today is Sunday, a day when many go to places to worship. A day set aside for that purpose in our busy lives. As a Believer, Sunday is not the only day for me, and many days are filled with hours of praying, recalling Bible verses, and applying God’s Truth in my life.

Once such verse I was reminded of recently is one I used frequently when our children were growing up. 

Ephesians 4:32 - And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (KJV)

This verse was memorized and quoted, usually for the purpose of a disagreement, and a reminder of how we should respond and treat one another. 

Our children are grown, and this verse came to mind once again. Not to be a reminder for them...but a reminder for me. A verse to be applied to all. Not just those I like, or admire, or agree with. But those individuals that pass through my life, that I may not agree with, or admire in a particular way. Just another person that is deserving of kindness, and forgiveness, just as Christ has done for each one of us. 

This verse levels the playing field, leaving no room for prejudice, judgement, or hate. We are all equal, and race, color, education, and monetary success means nothing. 

Today is Sunday. Remember what God has done for us, and the deep, deep love He has for each one of us. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPlOQk-Rr8U

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Parenting 101

Kitten Saga Continued

God designed us with emotions. He gave us the ability to feel, to love, and cry. We can experience anger, sadness, joy, elation, and depression in our lifetimes. Loving someone, and having that love returned, is one of the greatest blessings here in this life. I am thankful that He created us this way, even though at times, it really hurts.

I also believe that animals have the ability to care, to love, and demonstrate their feelings. Some more than others. I am reminded of a video that was going around Facebook a couple weeks ago. It showed a little girl, sitting on her living room sofa watching TV, with her pet yellow python sprawled across the sofa, over her lap, and across the back of the sofa. It was watching TV with her. When she yawned, it yawned. Now, I detest snakes. I really wonder why God created them. That is one of the many questions I’m going to have one day, if I even care to ask them by that point! But maybe in a snake kind of way, it cared for that little girl…as long as it was well-fed!

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Any farmer knows how a mama cow will bawl for her baby when they are separated. You have watched animals in the wild care for their young, many times better, more protective than some of the news stories we have seen lately of parents with their children. Animals have the ability to care, and show feelings. God designed them that way.

As you all know from reading my post, Sometimes It Hurts, we lost two kittens and our older cat, Cassie in the course of a few days. The kittens were ones my husband had found, so we bottle-fed them and cared for them for three weeks. They were a brother and sister of the same litter. We grew to love them over those weeks, and they cared about us. Our daughter sang to them each night before putting them to bed. They loved the song, Mockingbird Hill, which you can listen to right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJwv7ZsY6PQ

The male cat, a yellow and white cutie, would sit there while she sang, swaying back and forth with his eyes closed. It was adorable to watch.

My father took both of the kittens to the Helping Hands animal shelter in Topeka. He did that for us because he was able to. He knew it needed to be done quickly. He grew up on a farm, and to be honest, they just didn’t have the time to get that concerned about cats and their babies. They caught mice, and occasionally had a treat of milk while the milking was going on. I’ve always thought it must be a real test for my father to live with my mother, who adores cats, and their two kitties now are treated as queens that run the entire house.

The decision was made to take the kittens to the shelter, because our older cat, Cassie was not happy about them being at our house. She would come in, eat quickly and leave. A couple of times she watched the kittens with disdain, forgetting that she had been a kitten herself at one time, seeking the love, companionship and warmth of an older cat. I think that over time they would have all adjusted, but I didn’t want to put Cassie through that. I felt she should have us to herself during her waning years. And then she was gone…

Such is life, the emotions of love, that piercing sadness when you experience the loss of something or someone dear to your heart. There is no Cassie to greet us when we pull into our driveway, running up to our doors, and stretching for kitty-scratches. It’s very lonely to come home. Each morning I look out our back door, hoping to see her sitting on the wicker chair, or lounging on the garage roof. Each night before bed, I open that same door, hoping she will run in as she always did. In time, the memories will be sweet, and they won’t hurt so much.

During this kitten saga, my husband said he had seen a third kitten at work. One that looked like the female calico we had rescued. He had seen the mother only once more and the kitten was pretty wild. I told him I didn’t want to hear about any more kittens! And after the loss of three cats, I really didn’t want to go through all that again. On Friday, others at my husband’s place of work captured the third kitten. It took three people to outsmart a baby cat. And of course my husband called, saying he had another kitten in a box.

Now why would this happen? Why would God allow this into our lives at this point in time? We’d had almost two weeks of a cat-free life, and I’d been concentrating on all the positives to that. No more cat box to clean or smell. Our daughter does the cleaning of it, but we all smell it, and I don’t like it. No more food or cat litter to purchase. No more taking care of another warm body in our house. When I asked one of our older daughters this, our youngest daughter heard me and answered. “Because I’ve been praying that God would send me another cat!”

We now have Callie, sister to the two kittens. She is a pretty calico, with the same loving demeanor of her sister. The first day in our home, she didn’t speak, she cowered, and she was very afraid. She sat through her bath, not making a sound, only purring. She had spent her life fighting for safety and security. Now she has both, and love. Callie checked out at the veterinarian yesterday. She is a part of our family, and she loves to be sung to as well. I would love to be able to have her siblings here for her. Some feline companionship for the times we are gone. I’m sure our daughter is praying about that!

For those of you that read my post yesterday, here is the link you needed: https://www.facebook.com/deborahanndykeman With all that has gone on the past few weeks, it’s no wonder I’m addled-brained! Have a terrific Tuesday!

Our Christian Walk, Parenting 101

Trust to Love and Be Loved

I grew up in a house full of animals. I never really thought much of it. We always had at least one cat, and usually a dog. When my brother and I became teenagers, we decide to buy a horse together and share the responsibilities of it. We had both enjoyed the couple of trail rides we had been on, and the riding in an arena. Well, after one time of cleaning stalls and seeing that there wasn’t much riding time, I really wasn’t interested anymore. Not to mention the Quarter horse we purchased was once a barrel racer, and we weren’t! I spent a few times on the very hard ground. The fun of horse ownership was very short-lived for me. My brother went on to be an extremely good rider, showed horses at the local fairs, winning many ribbons. He took English riding lessons and Dressage. I think of him as the first horse whisperer, before I knew there was such a thing. My sister also showed horses in the cart class, and our youngest brother worked with them a lot as well. For a long time, our family had many horses, and that was their life. The summers revolved around getting ready for the fair, and then the rotation of fair dates in August and September in the upstate New York region.

Animals were a part of my life. They were just always there. I always loved cats, and kittens were extra special. I was in 7th heaven when a stray cat ended up at our house in Arizona. She happened to be a beautiful cat, a long-haired Siamese, with a really rotten attitude. But she was also pregnant we soon discovered. She happily delivered a lot of kittens. (I want to say she had thirteen, but time has faded my memory. It was definitely more than seven!) Sadie thought the lining of my parents bed was the best place to have her kittens. Of course this wouldn’t work, so several times the mewing tangle of fur was relocated to my bedroom, and put in a box. Sadie spent most of her days for the first few days after the kittens were born, taking them back to the bed-lining. The kittens either got too big, or Sadie wore out, but she gave up the moving finally. This same batch of kittens traveled with us when we moved back to upstate New York, May of 1983. Sadie, her kittens, at least one more adult cat and a dog traveled in the dressing room of the horse trailer. I want to say two horses traveled with us, but again, after over thirty years, my memory fades. My father drove the truck pulling the horse trailer, and I drove my father’s Datsun, newly purchased and a five-speed. It was an interesting trip with six people and all those animals!

After marriage, cats were still generally a part of our lives. Many moves made it difficult at times, and I’ve become use to having a house free from cat hair and cat box odors. I rather like it that way. We have one cat, an older cat, and she really enjoys her summers outside. She is a wonderful, loyal cat, rather a watch-cat for our yard. She is pretty savvy as well.

But kittens are still very special. So when my husband sent me this picture last week, I felt terrible.

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He had found them where he works, no mommy could be located. They were weak and very hungry from not eating all day and being out in the 90+ heat. I took some farm milk to them and we were finally able to get them to eat a few drops. My husband brought them home with milk replacement and a bottle from the vet. After a bath in the kitchen sink and the removal of 9+ ticks from their tiny bodies, they settled down to eat, chewing that little nipple to pieces. We were delighted to see them using the little cat box we had placed in their tiny kitty apartment. It always fascinates me to see animals doing activities of daily living with no training! God’s creation is awesome!

One week later, they are drinking and eating from a dish. They run around, hopping over one another and wrestling. Of course the male is the aggressive one, and the female more quiet and loving. She puts up with him and smiles. My husband weighed them last night to see what they should be eating for dry food. The female, the calico, weighed 1.2 lbs. and the male 1.5 lbs. They have grown! This makes adopted mommies happy! And you can see from the picture taken last night that they are pretty happy and content. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you might say.

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They are adorable, and I wish they could stay. But soon they will be in that teenager stage where my curtains are shredded and my sofa hanging in tatters. You know, rather like your home after your human teenagers leave? The plan was to take them to a shelter so they could be vaccinated, fixed and adopted out to a loving family.

It’s only been a week, but love and care have gone into these two babies. They have begun to trust us, whereas just a week ago they were scared and jumpy, trying to protect one another. I would like to think that someone would care for them the same, that another family would love and protect them the same as we would here, but that is not always the case. And that saddens me.

As a Christian, I have been told multiple times by other Christians that animals are only animals and they shouldn’t be treated as humans. And that is correct. They are not human, and as far as I’ve studied in the Bible, I do not believe that they will have a soul that will live eternally as ours does. But animals were given to us to care for, by God. It is His design. Some were given for food, some were given to be companionship. But all are to be protected and cared for by us. This was God’s design. There is no place for animal abuse and neglect. Whatever God has given us, is to be treated with respect and we are to do the most that we are able. After watching these two babies for the past week, again I am reminded at the ability of an animal to trust and love, and that is God-given. Shame and wrath on those that do not respect that!

If you take on the responsibility of an animal, and it is a lot of responsibility, please care for that animal. Have them vetted, have them sterilized so they don’t just have more and more babies that are abandoned and abused. Teach your children how to care for them and love them. If you don’t want to do all the above…don’t have pets! You are not respecting what God has designed. We are the humans, and we are to care for and do what’s best for the animal. Not act worse than the so-called animal.

This was not to be a post about my feelings about how animals are treated, but these last paragraphs have become that. Maybe because of the kittens that were born from a mother that was probably abandoned where my husband works. We have had so many animals over the years that have been left along side the road, or abused. And it is appalling to me. I believe it is to God as well. And someday, it will all be set right.

So back to the cute kittens that have graced our house for the past week. I pray good homes are found for them. I pray the effort and love we have put into them are not wasted, and the trust we have instilled has not put them at a disadvantage. But God knows.

Just For Fun!

Someday

A couple of weeks ago, our second oldest shared this song with me. I not only really love the song, but as our daughter pointed out, it is Orin and Annabella’s story…and that part was really neat. If you haven’t read, A Place of Refuge yet, this is a spoiler alert! But give it a listen anyway because it’s a fun song. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR4YE7htLgI

Thank you Michael Buble and Meghan Trainor for a great song!