Cats, felis catus, you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. They are independent,
insatiably curious, off to themselves more often than naught, always showcasing
their furriness after a lick down, normally responsive to “kitty, kitty” when
it’s agreeable or decides when its time to be held or petted, and just plain finicky when
it comes to eating. Our two Bengal cats (a cross between a domestic feline and
an Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis), are extremely
curious, adventurous, and risk takers. From what I observed the driving
attribute of our Bengals would be curiosity, making them appear fearlessly adventurous
and risk-takers! Cats enter into areas even I wouldn’t venture into; you have heard
of the old expression, “curiosity killed the cat.” Maybe there is a lesson here
to keep our noses out of things we don’t belong to because we don’t have cat
whiskers!
These cats know every square inch of their floor terrain. If anything unrecognizable is touching the floor, like setting a grocery bag on the floor, they hunker down and approach it with avid caution until it has been sniffed out. If I break the air by clapping my hands during the prowl, they jump clean off the floor and then are back at it with a “dogged” determination, a woof-meow approach.
Bentley and Lexus have taken curiosity to a higher level than any other kind of cat we’ve “owned.” For instance, let’s say I was attempting to pick up something very small with a pair of tweezers using a magnifying glass; Bentley and Lexus would have their noses right in the middle of the situation, with whiskers brushing my hands. I was cutting some clear lamination yesterday, and Lexus was right there sniffing on the scissors! Then she had to smell the edge of the lamination. Once she was satisfied, she sashayed off to somewhere else to satisfy her being in the know.
Should I go deep into the closet searching for something, which is dangerous on Beverly’s side, Bentley and Lexus will be right there to check things out. If I take out my drawer full of socks to find a mate, Bentley and Lexus will be inside the cabinet where the drawer was with their heads looking out. They refuse to miss a thing. I can be feverishly working on my computer, and Bentley will jump up on the desk and sit right in front of the monitor as if he was reading it. Occasionally, he might swipe at a moving cursor. I may have told you before in another blog that Bentley is cross-eyed. His mother was Siamese; he’s got the prettiest blue eyes in the sunlight, but regardless, he doesn’t swipe the air because of his eye condition.
When they are not catnapping, Bentley and Lexus want to be wherever we are, but that doesn’t mean they want to be lovey-dovey either. Again, they dictate the terms of the fellowship! I like cats because they are not so clingy and are less hassle than owning a canine at this juncture of my life, but that’s just me.
For anyone to say that cats are non-emotional, they do not know felines. Whenever Beverly leaves the house, Bentley will make these weird kinds of noises like he had been shot; I cannot even phonetically put it into letters! Bentley can make this strange guttural sound that when I first heard it made the hairs on my neck rise and to question if we had a “Pet Cemetery” cat living with us. It was creepy then but humorous now when I hear it. They can be affectionate (on their terms of course), scared (tails enlarged), agitated (swishing of the tail), and content (purring). We had just returned from an overnight trip, and Lexus was in my lap in no time; Bentley, however, didn’t have anything to do with us for several hours. He was mad at us for leaving!
Talking about feline emotions, Bentley cannot stand, and I mean that literally, to see the bottom of the food bowl, even when there is still food in the bowl. If he sees plastic on the bottom even if it is the size of a dime, he will follow us around everywhere we go until we do something with that bowl! If we even look like we are heading toward the bowl, he will beat us there or stand post at the entrance of the laundry room. It is almost like a compulsive disorder. He is obsessed with that bowl being at a certain level. Once it is below his standard, he will stick to us like glue. Lexus is not that way. She just goes with the flow.
I have tried to reason with Bentley that the females normally do most of the hunting for the pride and to give Lexus an opportunity to hunt. He won’t have it. Ladies, you know you can’t talk to a headstrong male! I normally give the cats a treat at noon if I am home. Well, Bentley just put his paw on my left thigh as I am writing this. You know what time it is, 12:02 PM! Now he is on the ottoman to my right sitting there looking at me, waiting for me to get up. Lexus is knocked out in kitty land on the bed, what a life!
These cats know every square inch of their floor terrain. If anything unrecognizable is touching the floor, like setting a grocery bag on the floor, they hunker down and approach it with avid caution until it has been sniffed out. If I break the air by clapping my hands during the prowl, they jump clean off the floor and then are back at it with a “dogged” determination, a woof-meow approach.
Bentley and Lexus have taken curiosity to a higher level than any other kind of cat we’ve “owned.” For instance, let’s say I was attempting to pick up something very small with a pair of tweezers using a magnifying glass; Bentley and Lexus would have their noses right in the middle of the situation, with whiskers brushing my hands. I was cutting some clear lamination yesterday, and Lexus was right there sniffing on the scissors! Then she had to smell the edge of the lamination. Once she was satisfied, she sashayed off to somewhere else to satisfy her being in the know.
Should I go deep into the closet searching for something, which is dangerous on Beverly’s side, Bentley and Lexus will be right there to check things out. If I take out my drawer full of socks to find a mate, Bentley and Lexus will be inside the cabinet where the drawer was with their heads looking out. They refuse to miss a thing. I can be feverishly working on my computer, and Bentley will jump up on the desk and sit right in front of the monitor as if he was reading it. Occasionally, he might swipe at a moving cursor. I may have told you before in another blog that Bentley is cross-eyed. His mother was Siamese; he’s got the prettiest blue eyes in the sunlight, but regardless, he doesn’t swipe the air because of his eye condition.
When they are not catnapping, Bentley and Lexus want to be wherever we are, but that doesn’t mean they want to be lovey-dovey either. Again, they dictate the terms of the fellowship! I like cats because they are not so clingy and are less hassle than owning a canine at this juncture of my life, but that’s just me.
For anyone to say that cats are non-emotional, they do not know felines. Whenever Beverly leaves the house, Bentley will make these weird kinds of noises like he had been shot; I cannot even phonetically put it into letters! Bentley can make this strange guttural sound that when I first heard it made the hairs on my neck rise and to question if we had a “Pet Cemetery” cat living with us. It was creepy then but humorous now when I hear it. They can be affectionate (on their terms of course), scared (tails enlarged), agitated (swishing of the tail), and content (purring). We had just returned from an overnight trip, and Lexus was in my lap in no time; Bentley, however, didn’t have anything to do with us for several hours. He was mad at us for leaving!
Talking about feline emotions, Bentley cannot stand, and I mean that literally, to see the bottom of the food bowl, even when there is still food in the bowl. If he sees plastic on the bottom even if it is the size of a dime, he will follow us around everywhere we go until we do something with that bowl! If we even look like we are heading toward the bowl, he will beat us there or stand post at the entrance of the laundry room. It is almost like a compulsive disorder. He is obsessed with that bowl being at a certain level. Once it is below his standard, he will stick to us like glue. Lexus is not that way. She just goes with the flow.
I have tried to reason with Bentley that the females normally do most of the hunting for the pride and to give Lexus an opportunity to hunt. He won’t have it. Ladies, you know you can’t talk to a headstrong male! I normally give the cats a treat at noon if I am home. Well, Bentley just put his paw on my left thigh as I am writing this. You know what time it is, 12:02 PM! Now he is on the ottoman to my right sitting there looking at me, waiting for me to get up. Lexus is knocked out in kitty land on the bed, what a life!
When it comes to our faith, sometimes I think we should be more like Bentley and Lexus. I realize the Creator hardwired them differently than humans. But if we just strolled down Hebrews chapter eleven we would have to be blind not to see that faith is all about taking risks. It’s not static at all. It’s dynamic, alive, and visible. A person of genuine faith will possess a desire to understand the knowledge of the Holy One and to be in His presence, having an adventuresome spirit to follow Him despite the risks involved. This is the way it is designed to work when the Holy Spirit is living within our hearts!
Do we know enough of the terrain of
Scripture that when something is out of place in our lives we are aware of it? Ah,
perhaps we are too concerned with seeing the plastic at the bottom of the bowl,
more obsessed with the idea of making a living to cover the basics, and have no time
for God. Maybe we want to dictate terms to the Almighty like the cats do to us.
Maybe the cat has got our tongue, and we’re afraid to speak out for Him. Do we seek to know and to understand the
Almighty like a hart that pants for the water brook? Do we hunger for His
presence and to be Christ-like?
Perhaps we need a little more of that feline curiosity in our Christian walk to make us more divinely daring: a faith taker or a risk taker. The risks in the framework of God’s will always pay out in eternal dividends, here or in the hereafter; it’s never a risky investment in pursuing and doing God’s will in a matter. The only losers are those who fail to take any risks or live by faith.
Perhaps we need a little more of that feline curiosity in our Christian walk to make us more divinely daring: a faith taker or a risk taker. The risks in the framework of God’s will always pay out in eternal dividends, here or in the hereafter; it’s never a risky investment in pursuing and doing God’s will in a matter. The only losers are those who fail to take any risks or live by faith.
Unlike the proud who trust in themselves,
the just lives by faith the ancient prophet Habakkuk declares (Hab 2:4) and the Apostle Paul (Rom
1:17; Gal 3:11-12; Heb 10:38). This whole concept of being justified by faith
moves beyond a single moment of faith to a way of living, a continuity of faith
reflected throughout the life. Since faith is all about risk-taking, the risk
of exercising faith is a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, and year-by-year routine as we walk in the Spirit. It’s a pattern of risks, not a random or
reckless risk, being taken throughout life in faithfulness to God under
Divine direction.
Because of a cat’s curiosity, it will naturally interact with its environment come what may. Cats
are wired that way; we are not. We have to choose to mix it up with our
environment, to be willing to go beyond mere intellectual curiosity to an
experiential one of conforming our life to the will of God, driven by an
insatiable love for Him (Deut 6:5; Mk 12:30) come what may. The curiosity of
what would happen if we were Christ-like in this or that situation would be
realized here or in eternity.
The law of the risk management of faith is basic and simple to understand – obedience brings blessings; disobedience robs us of blessings. It is about as straightforward as the law of gravity – what goes up must come down, or the law of the harvest – you reap what you sow. It’s a no-brainer until we focus on the risks rather than what is beyond the dissuaders, “… the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14, ESV).
In the words of a spiritual troubadour, we need to “run the risk of fearlessly loving without running away” (Jason Gray). How risky is our faith – “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt 8:34). That’s pretty risky! Let’s ratchet that risk up just a notch with a Divine guarantee, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20b; cf. 2 Tim 3:12, just keeping it real).
Faith doesn’t get any riskier than that. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but love fuels our faith to move forward in taking on those risks without retreat because of Him who took our place on the cross, looking beyond the risks to the region of the eternal (Heb 11:1). We haven’t got nine lives to spare so we got to make this one round count for something. Aren’t we just the least bit curious about how Christ-like behavior could revolutionize our life if only we would just launch out by faith in everything? What is our willingness to run the risk of being faithful to Jesus? Indeed, faith without risks is dead. Are we faith fakers or faith takers? There is only one purrfect choice, launch out by faith and feel the risks! Meow. <><
The law of the risk management of faith is basic and simple to understand – obedience brings blessings; disobedience robs us of blessings. It is about as straightforward as the law of gravity – what goes up must come down, or the law of the harvest – you reap what you sow. It’s a no-brainer until we focus on the risks rather than what is beyond the dissuaders, “… the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14, ESV).
In the words of a spiritual troubadour, we need to “run the risk of fearlessly loving without running away” (Jason Gray). How risky is our faith – “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt 8:34). That’s pretty risky! Let’s ratchet that risk up just a notch with a Divine guarantee, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20b; cf. 2 Tim 3:12, just keeping it real).
Faith doesn’t get any riskier than that. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but love fuels our faith to move forward in taking on those risks without retreat because of Him who took our place on the cross, looking beyond the risks to the region of the eternal (Heb 11:1). We haven’t got nine lives to spare so we got to make this one round count for something. Aren’t we just the least bit curious about how Christ-like behavior could revolutionize our life if only we would just launch out by faith in everything? What is our willingness to run the risk of being faithful to Jesus? Indeed, faith without risks is dead. Are we faith fakers or faith takers? There is only one purrfect choice, launch out by faith and feel the risks! Meow. <><
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