The story is told of a pastor who had a young kitten climb into one of his trees. The tree was tall enough that the kitten could not be reached by a ladder, and it was also not sturdy enough to climb. Attempts to coax the animal down with warm milk even failed. What was the minister to do?
He decided that the only solution was to tie a rope between his car and the tree. Then he’d slowly drive forward, pulling the tree down, so the kitten could be retrieved. How did this plan work? As he slowly pulled ahead the tree lowered, but suddenly the rope broke. The tree sprang back to its upright position and the kitten sailed through the air — out of sight.
The pastor felt terrible. He searched all over the neighborhood for several hours, but he simply could not find the cat. In fact, everyone he spoke with had not even seen a stray little kitten wandering around.
A few days later he was at the grocery store and met a neighbor. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was surprised to see cat food. This woman was a “cat hater,” and everyone in the neighborhood knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you dislike cats so much?”
She replied, “You’ll never believe it.” She proceeded to tell of how her little daughter had been begging for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the girl began to pray for a cat. The neighbor said, “Pastor, a kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of my daughter. I took that as a sign from God. We now have a kitten in our home!”
That is a cute story, but what does it tell us about God or spiritual matters? In Matthew 6:26 Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
The truth is God cares about kittens and birds. He cares even more about you, me and everyone. I invite you to keep this reality in mind during the Season of Lent. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did!
— The Rev. Bill Kerry is pastor at Litchfield United Methodist Church.
