By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Besides the holidays each year, November or December bring with it for my household a reminder that the cat, “Patches”, is due for her annual shots.  Patches is an outdoor cat, and she has the freedom of roaming the area where we live.  In her eleven and a half years, she’s only disappeared twice for more than a day at a time.  She’s like me most of the time, a homebody.  So when the time comes for a trip to the vet, she has to be tricked by treats or petting or whatever so that I can hold her long enough to shove her into her crate.  You can see from my picture that this is not a favorite activity of hers.  Neither is it one of mine.  However, it is something that certainly must be done.  It’s the plan, the schedule, the necessity to help keep her healthy and safe.

Ever feel caged up by life?  Maybe you feel that you were shoved into your circumstances by some invisible hand against your will, out of your plans, wild-eyed and wondering what could possibly come next.  Think on this.  What if the Maker never grabbed us up and brought us in for a checkup?  What if He never called us home, gathered us in His arms, and yes, sometimes, allowed a cage to hold us down, so that He could take care of what’s best for our lives?

Patches’ shots are necessary for her.  The short trip to and from the vet’s office certainly does her no harm.  And once it’s all over, I open the cage doors, and she runs off into the yard to do whatever it is that cats do all day, none the worse for wear.  And soon the trauma of the cage and the vet and the shots are all forgotten, just another part of making it through life.

And one side thought.  Because I am allergic to the cat, just the short time with her on vet day gives me a very scratchy throat and headache for the rest of the day.  But I do it because it’s necessary.  I dare say that God gets no enjoyment out of having to reel us in for a checkup either, but He does it because it’s necessary, because He loves us.

May your cages, your checkups, your shots, your trauma, by God’s design, be helpful and oh-so-temporary.  Endure.  For the child of God, it won’t be long until those cage doors are opened by His hand once again!

Just a thought.