You will ...turn and comfort me. —Psalm 71:21 (cjb)
My husband, Keith, and I agreed to put the cat bed on one corner of my desk because our greyhound was too rambunctious in the house and the cats were afraid they’d be trampled. Chi and L.E. took turns sleeping in the bed, running across my desktop and, it turned out, knocking all my papers onto the floor. When the sunlight slanted over my desk, they stretched out in it. What I was working on was of no importance to them; my desk had become their property.
By the time I figured it out and tried to banish them, it was too late. I tried to shoo them away, even yelled at them. And I wasn’t getting enough work done, so I seethed.
Then I took a call on my desk phone. It was from a high-school friend telling me about the unsuccessful surgery of another classmate. I hadn’t seen her for a long while, but we had spent a lot of time together back in school. I hung up the phone and started to cry. Those bothersome cats immediately came over, rubbing against me and butting their heads under my chin. Chi rested her paw on my arm; L.E. licked the tears on my cheeks.
I never again thought about moving the bed. The cats belonged in that place.
You entrust Your task of comfort to small creatures with fur, Lord, and I love You for it.
