Love lessons from Matty

My daughter, Madison (Mattie), has a cat named Matty.  Believe it or not, he was named when she adopted him from the animal shelter. At least their names were spelled differently.

Matty is old and feeble. He’s had a stroke, sheds excessively, walks crooked, misses the litter box, can’t see well and has a hard time moving at all, but, he loves Mattie a lot and she loves him.   I can’t say that I dislike Matty but I haven’t grown attached to him either.  With my own house full of animals, I’ve historically avoided the hair, smell and poop associated with this little bundle of fur.

Until a month ago when Madison left for 3 months of Bible School.

I always knew that we’d be taking care of her precious friend while she was gone but I didn’t think much of it. I mean, we’ve watched all of our girls’ animals at one time or another but now that we’ve had Matty for almost a month, I’ve noticed that life has changed more than it did with the others. I seem to plan my days around him and I’ve become very protective of him even though my nose itches all the time, I’m changing litter constantly, washing towels that have been peed on, sitting in the room when I read/study/write so I can pet him, buying soft cat food for a treat each day and taking him outside for “fieldtrips” through my flower beds.  For a woman that never really liked cats, this is peculiar. As I sat on Madison’s bed this morning reading my Bible and scratching Matty’s head, I had a tiny revelation as to why all this has happened.

Because of love. I love this cat because I love his owner.  What matters to my daughter matters to me and I want to protect it and care for it because that honors the one I love.  However, although love is a powerful motivator, it isn’t always enough to change our actions so drastically.  As I mentioned, I’ve watched other animals that my kids have loved and, although I didn’t neglect them by any means, I didn’t dote on them in this way. It seems that the difference has to do with my sense of urgency towards the responsibility that I’ve been given.

You see, Matty has been with my baby girl through some horribly dark years.  When she felt lost, he was nibbling on her fingers in the middle of the night reminding her that she was needed and he was hungry. When she felt alone, He was laying on her head and purring just because he wanted to be close to her and because he loved her.  My unemotional daughter has a soft spot for this furry old man that she saved from a cage 4 years ago.  So much so that when she left for school, I was shocked when she started to cry.  Turns out, she believes their time is short. He’s lived a long life and is very “broken”, as she puts it.  She’s afraid that she won’t make it home before he passes away and it’s breaking her heart.  And mine.

A week after Madison left, I woke up to find Matty was having difficulty walking so I immediately called the vet and took him in.  They weren’t sure if it was just arthritis or another stroke so they sent me home with some medicine and instructions to call if he got worse.  I suddenly felt an urgency to take care of this cat like he was a king.  To show him love and make him feel happy in the hopes that he’d still be here in 2 and a half months.  I felt an urgency to do all I could so that Madison can see her little fur ball again when she gets home. It’s not an obligation, it’s a joyful choice that I’m making, each day because I love her and I want what she wants…a hope and future to be with her precious pet.

How much more am I called to love and treasure people?  How much more does God love people?  All people. Even those who aren’t easy to love. Kind of like Matty was hard to love until I began to see him through the eyes of Madison’s love. Suddenly, the mess and smells and inconveniences were a chance to express my love for Madison by loving him.

The words of Jesus took on a new light as I read them this morning with my new furry friend in my lap.

 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”  John 15:12-13

So what 4 things are spelled out in these 3 short lines?

1. Jesus has loved me more faithfully and completely than I deserve and continues to do that every day of my life. Do I love like that? “…as I have loved you…”
2. He has laid his life down for me and that’s the example I am to follow. How often do I risk my life for someone?  Let’s make that a bit less dramatic and say, how often do I sacrifice my desires, hopes or pride for someone else? If I’m to love as He has loved, I’m called to do the same.
3. Furthermore, if I desire to show Jesus the greatest love I can, I’ll lay my life down for Him? Not just for other people. It’s sometimes easy to justify why I don’t need to lay my life down for the person who hurt me or who is acting like an idiot in my eyes. But, the rubber meets the road when I realize that whether I want to show love to other people or not, I can NOT show love to my Savior without doing just that. The greatest expression of love that I can show is expressed when I lay my life down. For His desires.  For His hopes.  For the things (or people) that He loves.
4. Obeying Jesus in His call to love people is a sign that I am His friend.If I don’t love people, that’s a good indication that something may be off in my heart.

What a call! What a life purpose. So many of us are searching for a deeper meaning from God on our lives when Jesus tells us all throughout the New Testament that this is it.  A purpose worth giving our lives for and yet, we often ignore it, justify it, redefine it or dilute it.  But, think about it.  Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40) That’s a pretty strong statement coming from God himself and a pretty clear command.  But do I do it? Do you? Do we as the church?

When people hate us, disagree with us or even hate the things we love, do we still show them love?  Does God still love them? Do their souls matter to Him?  Does the command “Love your enemies. Pray for those who curse you,” still apply?

It’s worth thinking about.  It’s worth asking ourselves, “How do I show love?” “Who do I really have a hard time with and how can I show love to those people?” “How can I lay down my life in love in order to show Jesus how much He means to me?”  “How can I treat people in a way that  draws their heart  closer to His heart?”  More than likely, our answers aren’t as shiny and selfless as we’d like them to be but this is as good a time as any to change that.  It’s always a good time to show God how much we love Him by loving others. It’s urgent.  Time is short. People are hurting and the church isn’t always seen as the place for healing, acceptance and love anymore.  We can change that.  We should want to change that.  Desperately.  Because we have so much to be thankful for and so much love to share if we can only tap into the depths of that love.

We may or may not have more than 2 ½ months left to love on people before Jesus comes back. We tend to think that we do but there’s no guarantee.  Let’s treasure what he treasures and love what he loves with everything in us so that when He comes, we can stand before him, smiles on our faces, because we’ve shown Him how much we love Him by truly loving the people that He loves. And they’ve felt it.