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My cat Fred always gives me a hard time when I come back from a vacation. He’s a rescue cat, who was found wandering around the subway platform in Harlem nine years ago, very near Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Hence his name.
“Were you afraid you were abandoned again?” I ask him. “Did you not like your cat sitter?”
He runs around the house, yowling, and then sulks in a corner. I check his food dish. Full. I look at his water dish. Plenty of water. And the cat sitter has left the radio on for company.
“Here, Fred, I’m back now,” I say. I empty my bag and then invite him to sit in it, usually a welcome treat. He jumps up on the bed, then jumps off. He asks to be brushed, but doesn’t enjoy it for long.
Exhausted from my travels, I go to bed. I repeat a psalm to myself, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble ...” Fred yowls at the foot of the bed, then leaps up on the pillow, nuzzling me (waking me), then leaps off. He repeats this action several times.
Well after midnight, I fall asleep. Well before dawn, Fred and the birds have decided that I should wake up.
Finally he allows me to pet him on the nose. He stretches his neck and purrs. He’s OK. “See, you’re loved. We didn’t forget you,” I tell him.
Still short on sleep, I remind myself that I’ll be OK, too. I head to the bathroom, finishing the psalm I started the night before: “Be still and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
“Be still, Fred,” I mutter to myself, “and know that I am home.”
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Rick Hamlin is the executive editor of Guideposts magazine and the author of 10 Prayers You Can't Live Without. To learn more about the book and explore your own prayer journey, watch this video.
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Fred is a very handsome fellow (if that is him in the photo), and obviously rules his household well! :) Cats are wonderful, and rescued cats are the best. They understand and truly appreciate what it means to have a loving forever home. You and Fred are a tremendous blessing to each other, and you are both living testimonies to the benefits of adopting homeless cats. May God bless you and Fred with many wonderful years together. ^..^__~
Yes I say God Bless our pets. They are so unique each in their own way. After losing all our pets, Dec. 11/10 in a fire we have another little little family - Dusty the shih tzu,he was living where we were staying after our fire and they gave him to us and he is such a sweetheart, he will be 3 this year and five cats, Simba a 12 old abandoned cat, Little Joe whom we raised since a week old and he is now 17 lbs. and a big cat of 11 months old, and quite a character and then there are the two girls who are going into their 9th month, Snickers a calico, and Bootsie, who has 7 claws on each foot. They all have had their needles and are fixed. Their mom was abandoned also and my friend took the mom in last year and she had the 3 kittens that night and she kept Charlie their brother and the mom. We also have two birds, a lovebird Toby, given to us as a baby and a Conure, Kiwi who was found and not claimed last year. Also have 8 fish, all named of course. This is our family and I love them all. We don't have children and they are our little family.
Our previous dear pets that are with God now were all beautiful unique little beings also and they will always be in our hearts. Many times little things in my mind remind me of the sweet things they did. Thank you God for allowing them in our lives. Two of them were hand raised too.
I try to tell my 5 yr old Cocker Spaniel, Danny Boy, that I love him several times a day; that he is cute and handsome, and that I will always be with him; that I appreciate him and glad that he is with me. Every day I pray, "Thank You God for Danny Boy and me." We say bedtime prayers together and I as God & St. Francis of Assisi to watch over him.
When I first got him he was hell on wheels. I had shortly considered re-homing him. But when I prayed about him, the Lord said "just love him," and the problems would subside.
I did so and although he isn't perfect he knows that I love him and has made improvements in behavior in the last 3 years I have had him because of it.. Danny and I will always be together because of that love. We are both blessed and he knows he has a forever home.
Oh, I would like to add that he is sharing this love with others as a Certified Therapy Dog. I am very proud of him.
As you remind Fred that he is loved and not forgotten, it is my dog Lucille who reminds me that I too am loved.
Lucille is a beautiful, silky, long-haired dachshund. My first dog. Now almost 8 years old, she's been with me since she was six weeks old. I work from home, so we are together during the day, and we sleep cuddled next to each other every night.
I'm not sure that Lucille ever needs to be reminded of how loved she is - - but on days when I've been hurt by friends or family, struggle with the misery of divorce, and weep from the ache of loneliness, Lucille's unconditional love and unfiltered affection are reliable affirmations that I am loved.
God bless our beloved pets!