“Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.” -Psalm 31:2 (NRSV)

For the last three weeks, I have been spending a few hours each evening sprawled on a fleece blanket on the floor of the guest room in the dark. Why, you ask? Well, we adopted a beautiful tabby cat named Doc when my parents’ elderly tabby Jethro passed away, and Doc is a bit of a scaredy cat. We can hardly blame him as he is adjusting to his new home, and my mom and I had to pull him out from under the guest bed daily to medicate him for the first few days that he was home. My mother has gotten him to be affectionate with her by bribing him with cat treats, but he tends to be leery of me.

I have discovered a secret about him though: he goes absolutely insane with a laser pointer. It has become our bonding activity to play with it during my time on the guest room floor. I have been able to get him to come out from under the guest bed into the middle of the room, and he does just fine until he realizes that I can see him. At first, he will flee behind an afghan on the floor (which doesn’t cover him, but it’s still very funny), and he will get more comfortable with me as the evening progresses. He has also gotten comfortable enough with me that he will roll around on the floor under the guest bed and be silly. I will be playing Words with Friends on my phone and look under the bed to find him six inches away looking at me upside down. During his more playful times, he will bat my feet with his sharp little paws.

This is saving me right now because it is unspeakably wonderful to watch Doc come out of his shell. He has the cutest little squeak for a meow, and his eyes are so soulful. It makes me smile to see him being silly and not completely terrified. He finally let me pet and scritch him a few days ago, and we finally took the risk of introducing my bratty black cat Minion to him. Thankfully, the two of them hit it off, and we are looking forward to watching them become buddies.

Lord, thank you for kitty cats and the joy they bring to our lives. Amen.
-Jen McCabe