I Did It Anyway

For as far back as I can remember I have always had a love for animals. I don't just mean a fondness and a liking to see them from a distance. I mean a love and need for animals in my life. I was blessed to be raised on a farm which brought about many different types of animals. I also have a Dad who loves animals as well so it was easier to have many pets in my life. Mom didn't have the deep love for animals but she did enjoy them and had a deep love for her husband and children so she tolerated them well. (Thanks Mom!)

I used to love finding kittens when they were born and winning their trust in me. Forty five years later little has changed. Just last week I found some and was like a little kid. Grinning from ear to ear, my husband looked at me with a smile and said, "takes you back 35 years doesn't it". I said more like 40.

Early this spring a few were found, but too late to win them over. They remained wild. The mother was a drop off several years ago and it took me a week to win her trust. We have come a long way. I am the only one she completely trusts and will let hold her. She will let my one daughter hold her but she is allergic and so that doesn't happen very often. I have spoke of this cat in the past. While she trusts me two of her kittens have remained here on the farm and are all but full grown. They are males and they help keep the mice way. I rarely see them and that is fine with me.

Three days ago, as I approached the hen house I heard a soft meow. I looked in the barn and found nothing. I looked in the dairy barn that has sat empty for years, nothing. I decided it must have been the wind blowing in the old windows. The next day morning and evening, each time I went to hen house I heard it. Definitely coming from dairy barn. Still nothing. I even had my dog with me, and she didn't see or sniff anything. She would look at me, with those intense eyes she has, every time it meowed. I also noticed whenever I talked to Maggie, our dog, or to Patches, the cat, I would hear it. I decided yesterday to tour the entire barn. Nothing.

This morning as I rounded the corner of the hen house I clearly heard it. It was more loud and more desperate. I felt the feeling in my stomach that I had to find this cat before something bad happened. I even prayed that God would allow me to find it and save it. Today was different then the last three. This was a cry of help and fear. So I began again. Nothing. Then I heard it one more time and knew for sure it was upstairs and not downstairs and I went with Maggie knowing she would find it. She did not. Thankfully, I did. What I saw laying before me made me immediately take her out and pen her up in house. I got my husband's hunting jacket, thick leather gloves and flashlight. I headed back. The poor thing was all tangled in a few old fishing nets. My guess is, he was trying to catch a mouse and when he jumped he caused them to fall on top of him. To say tangled doesn't quite describe it clearly. He had twisted himself entirely in the  netting. His one leg was twisted very tight.  His head was the only thing free. As soon as he saw me, he lifted his head in relief and tried to relax. However, in closer inspection I knew scissors were going to be needed. I headed to the house and got a pair and continued to pray this would go well. As I walked through the straw, over the boards and behind the feed box, where he lay I noticed his mother, Patches was watching. She had heard him too. She sat right by me and watched the entire time. He is as big if not bigger than her. But was completely helpless. As I reached to make the first cut, his eyes changed. The wild was back. They became black as night and the teeth in his mouth looked like fangs and the claws were all ready for action. This was not going to be easy. I had also grabbed a towel. I immediately covered his face and the biting scratching and flipping began. Deeper entangled. I waited till he stopped. Amazed that three days of no food and water the strength that remained. I decided the best was to pin his head down with one hand and cut with the other. I had to take my glove off to hold the scissors and feared I would be scratched. And believe me when I say scratched I mean stitches would have followed. I never saw fear like this. As I began cutting he was getting more leverage. I made the final cut, removed the towel and waited. Patches did too. He hissed at me and tried to run. His one front leg was a bit swollen and he was very thin. However he could stand. He took one last look and was gone. Patches stood and followed me out. We closed the door. I tried to take food and water but he was gone. He knows where the food and water are in the hen house so he can always go there if needed. I just tried to have it closer till he regained his strength.

As I walked back to the house I felt there is a lesson in there somewhere. As I reflected on it during my morning walk, this is what came to me.

We get all tangled in our own mess. We wait for awhile before asking for help from others and from God. We start softly and quietly. Don't want to be a bother. Then we find we become desperate. It is now life or death. We call out. We cry out. God always comes. God is always waiting. God can clean up our mess, but it is up to us as to what we do with it. Sometimes God has people in our life who trust him and have walked with him a long time to be near us to show us the way and to encourage us that things will be okay that we can trust Him. When He takes care of our mess whether it be the day to day sins we get into or the separation from Him because of our sinful nature, where His Son had to come and die to pay the price we never could, He did it knowing some would reject His help or plan of Salvation. He did it anyway.

I would love to say that cat stopped, turned around and limped over to me and licked my hand and started purring. I would love to say that it even stayed and watched me for awhile. But it didn't. Even though its mother sat beside me the whole time showing the trust she had in me, didn't make a difference. It still took off. I most likely will never see it again.

I thought about that. God will bring people into our lives that we will help. We will walk along side and sit up late at night helping through their troubles. We will tell them of God's love and we will show them the way. Yet, they will still reject Him. I knew the moment I found that cat, he would never like me or thank me in return. It was my love for animals that God planted in my heart when He breathed life in me to help that caused me to do it. I did it anyway. Regardless of the outcome.

If God has placed in your heart the desire to serve or help someone, do it anyway. Let the outcome up to Him. We can't save anyone. Only He can do that. He knew when He gave up his life on the cross some would continue to spit and hiss at him. He knew they would reject Him, yet, He did it anyway.