God as Cat

I thought that God might be willing to listen

to reason, so I worked up a proposal that

outlined some of my many concerns.

My primary objective in that twenty page

thesis of sheer elegance, that I was hoping

might impress God, could be distilled into

this one, a bit long-winded hoot:

that you – God-would never be any less

furry, and always as accessible and loving

as my cat; and like her, sleep with your

head on my

shoulder.  And, of course, don’t forget the

purrrrrrrr!

                                         Hafiz

_______________________________________________

we have all suffered from the cleverness

of such sayings as

Dog is God spelled backwards

or is that

God is Dog spelled backwards

and there is something appealing about the image

of God as dog

for that is often how want God

loving and faithful

willing to sit at our feet and cover  us with affection

head lolling

tongue ready to lick and lap

obedient and protective

but I suspect that God is truly much more like a cat

loving yes

but...

the reality is

that no one “owns” a cat

cats are independent

capricious

unpredictable

or rather predictable in their unpredictability

sometimes they disappear

sometimes they merely leave hints of their presence

a book, mysteriously transported from the book case

to the floor

a pill bottle that once was on the counter

now in the middle of the rug

sometime cats are downright disruptive

creating chaos in our well ordered universe

we chase after cats

and they scatter

we call cats

and they come, sometimes

but sometimes they don’t

preferring to hide

somewhere

Cat only knows

I have no doubt that my cats love me

but they are not domesticated

and definitely, in their own way

like the Lion of Narnia

not tame

most of the time

I really wish God were truly

more like a dog than a cat

there are my beck and call

ready to serve me

always Who and What I expect

but God cannot, and should not be domesticated

and just as we know what happens

when we shut a cat into a small space

or forget to let the cat out

so too

our attempts to make God

a Reality we own

a Power we manipulate

will not work

but still

cats know when we are sad

they know when we are hurting, and lonely

and they find their way to us

in those moments when we need them the most

and they sit on our laps

and clean our hair

and prrrrrrrrrrrr

which is why we love them

and so too

God