I’ve been wanting a kitten for forever, and I finally have an apartment where I am allowed to have a cat, so you can bet that I’ve been looking for a kitten.
Yesterday I went to the local Humane Society. There were no kittens, and, for once, there were only a few older cats left. I was looking over the leftover cats when one of them caught my eye.
It was a black cat. And let me tell you, this was the nappiest, patchiest, most mangiest cat you’ve ever seen. His fur was really patchy and his skin was kind of saggy. I could tell he wanted so badly for someone, anyone, to give him some attention, and so I pet him, but while I did, I thought to myself, “What a patchy cat! Poor thing, no one is going to want you.“
As soon as I thought that, my heart fell, I couldn’t believe that I had even thought that.
But what if I was that cat?
If I was that cat, I would want someone to want me. I would want someone to see something in me that was worth wanting. So many cats get chosen for their physical beauty or kittens are chosen because, let’s face it, they are just undeniably adorable.
But if I was that cat, I would want someone to see something in me. I would want someone to look past the messiness and my missing patches of fur and saggy skin and to choose me. To say- you have worth. To say- I choose you. You are worthy of my love and being chosen. To speak those words over me. To speak truth over me.
You know, I think we are that cat. We are the leftovers. We’ve been sitting there in our cages for so long, listening and watching as people come in, oooohing and AHHHing over the other cats around us, “Oh, what a beautiful coat” or “What unique eyes” or “What a great personality” only to pass by us and say “Wow, what a mangy old cat” “No one is ever going to want you.” We’ve all had words like that spoken over us, and we need someone to choose us, to say you belong. I choose you. To speak truth over us.
Because, you see, after we hear those words spoken over us, we begin to believe them. We begin to believe that we are unlovable, that no one will ever choose us. And we begin to let those lies affect our life. Our relationships. Our very souls.
You know what people would see if they took a second glance at that cat? They would see how he was aching for attention, and how much he wanted to be loved. How he warmed up immediately to your touch- when he was shown love.
I think that’s what it means when God says he chooses the ones that the world wouldn’t choose. If God walked into that humane society, I am sure that he would walk right up to that mangy old cat and say, “I choose this one. I want this cat. This cat is mine.”
You see, God chooses the mangy cats. That’s us. A lot of times, the world doesn’t see anything shiny or worthy in us, but God does. And he speaks the truth over us. And we believe it. And as we allow his truth to enter our lives, our lives are transformed.
That’s also a beautiful picture of the way that we get to join with him in his work. We get to join in on loving the ones that the world would overlook or even look at with disgust.
We get to be the ones that God uses to speak truth over and into them, to say I SEE you, you have worth, you have value, you are worthy of love. And going further and saying you are worthy of my love. And giving it to them.
And why should we do that?
Because that’s exactly what Someone has done for us.
