Lessons from Cats: Purring

Have you ever noticed how most of the time, it takes very little to make a cat purr. Put him in your lap, pet her while she's sleeping, look at them the right way, and you can hear them purr from across the room (Well, maybe that's just my mom's cat). It's nice when petting the cat makes it purr, and we cannot help but smile as well.

Have you ever pet those cats that never seem to purr? We have one of those too. She is very hard to make purr unless she feels like it. You can give her tuna juice, you can pet her as much as she wants, you can pick her up, put her down, let her lay on your fuzzy blanket or walk in front of your books and computer, but she rarely purrs. It's sometimes annoying to pet those cats because, cute as they are, it's nice to know that your affections are appreciated. Indeed, if my mom's cat looks at me and starts purring, I'm even more likely to pet him just because he's being so sweet and I can tell how happy he is just at the thought of getting attention. Cat's purring even makes me forget that they've walked across my computer or sat on the book I am reading.

So, which are we? The easy to purr cats? Or the ones that only purr when we feel like it?

God is constantly lavishing us with affection. How often do we “purr” our thanks and love back to him? Do we do it every time we notice? Do we purr when we think about it? Do we only purr when God does something spectacular? Or do we only purr when others are watching to say, 'Look at me! I have the attention that I want,' to those not getting the attention? I hope we're the ones that the smallest glance from our Heavenly Father makes us purr, but I know that I at least am closer to the one who only purrs when I think about it: When I'm at church, when I get a direct answer to prayer, when I see something that reminds me directly of the blessing God's given me, when I get all green lights, or when my car gets somewhere without stalling on me.

But God deserves our purring all the time. When we wake up, we should purr our thanks for another day to serve Him. When He gives us a trial, we should purr our thanks for the opportunity to follow Him. When He answers a prayer, we should purr our thanks for answering our unworthy prayers. The fact we can thank Him should make us want to do so even more! No other race has the ability to commune with God as we do, and yet Jesus warns that if we will not give His Father the praise due, even the rocks will cry out.

God will get his praise from us or from the rocks. I would rather it be from me.