The other night my dad and I were looking at our cat, Cubby, and my dad commented on how gnarly he was looking. He is 12, so I figured it was just age. But then when I looked at him closer I realized he was shedding up a storm. As in clumps of hair sticking out at all angles.So when I should've been heading to bed, I dug out the ol' brush and started in on him. I ended up with enough hair to weave a sweater! Cubby loved this extra attention, and the brushing part probably felt like the best scratch he'd had in awhile.
I got to thinking ... how can I put this experience into a blog post? Ha ha. No, seriously ... :)
Then I thought of Eustace Scrubb. Remember him from C.S. Lewis' Narnia series? In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (read no more if you don't want plot spoilers) he was really a rotten chap for most of the story. Greed finally got the better of him, and he turned into a dragon. That was fun for awhile, but eventually he just wanted to be a boy again. Only he couldn't turn himself back anymore than he'd purposely turned himself into the dragon. He cried and wailed, but he couldn't shed the dragon skin.
He finally called out for help, and Aslan, the kind yet not-a-tame-lion to help him peel away the dragon skin, his old nature, and become a new creature.
It was the same way with my cat. He couldn't brush away that old, dead hair anymore than Eustace could peel away his dragon skin. And I can't remove my old nature---those bad habits, wrong thoughts and things I wish I wouldn't do but do anyway. By myself that is. I can't do it on my own. That's actually a relief to realize. It doesn't have to happen in my strength. All I need to do is cry out for help, and my Aslan, Jesus, will help me. It's that simple but I forget it so often.
Who would've thought my shedding cat would teach me that? :)
8 comments:
LOL...same with my cat...and the dog. My husband says the hairballs could make a whole other pet!
Great blog and reminder. Maybe it will make vacuuming all that hair up easier!
Thanks for sharing!
Okay, I know you'll enjoy this. I was on a marthan phone call with a friend and I told him you just can't crochet with cats. He said "you crochet with your cat??" Aren't you supposed to use a hook or something? I think I'm going to have to call your brother. (I was wheezing, I was laughing so hard....) I told him to call my brother and tell him I was getting ready to shave to cat to make a sweater.
Sorry for the typo. It was a marathon phone call (obviously). *g*
Very, very good point, well made.
OldWoman, I HAVE heard of people knitting dog hair into sweaters. Can't recall if I've heard of people doing the same with cat hair.
I think this post may be the only way cats have ever blessed me, CJ! :) Thanks for the reminder that the Lord is the only one who can really make me better.
I've thought of this when I had to remove burrs from my old dog (now dead and buried). The burrs reminded me of sins that stick to me through the day and I am dependant on my Master to remove. Great post and great transparency, C.J.!
CJ, what a terrific connection between your cat and Eustace. As writers, we really need this reminder, too, shedding our "flesh thinking" for His thinking. Thank you for paying attention to the ordinary things, and finding the extraordinary.
Sibella
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