Who Will Love Me?

Who Will Love Me?

This week I sat with my friend Susan who had just said good-bye to a pet, a beautiful furry gray female cat named Piglet.

Piglet came to Susan sixteen years ago on the eve of giving birth to a litter of kittens. Susan allowed Piglet a private haven in her home to deliver and then nurture the kittens, and when Piglet decided, as most mothers do at some point, “Ok, you guys -I’ve done my job. Now it’s time for you to get a place of your own..” Susan gathered the kittens in a basket, took them to our work office and proceeded, in a day, to find loving homes for each. “Clyde,” the runt of the litter and the spitting image of Mama (well, almost), became mine. 

More than once my impish Clyde climbed way out on a limb on the huge oak tree in my front yard and needed to be rescued. Since I had no ladder, I’d climb up in a kitchen chair with an open can of tuna and try to coax him down. He would nearly give me his paw, then jerk it back. We were on about the third round of Clyde-in-the-tree one evening, and a storm was coming. I was up in the chair, coaxing and pleading. When lightning struck close, I said, “I am sorry, little guy, but you are on your own,” at which time he ran down the tree and made it into the house before I did! His naughty game was over! Clyde slept on the pillow above my head. At bedtime, he’d reach his paw down and I’d reach up until we were “holding hands” as we fell to sleep, for as long as he was mine. He stole my heart.

Piglet, who rarely was friendly with any two-legged beings, and who developed only one or two four legged affinities in her lifespan, adored Susan, who adored her back. And while Piglet had nothing of value to offer Susan but her trust and affection, that was enough to endear her to Susan for all time. 

Piglet Gray

January 20, 1999 - April 13, 2015

In the Kingdom of God, we are Piglets and Clydes. We have nothing of value to offer God but ourselves - our love and our trust - and yet, that is exactly what He desires.

So, if we are always trying harder to get Him to love us more, it won’t do any good. God can’t possibly love us more than He already does!

God, unlike some people, does not base His love for us on what we can do for Him! 

Conversely, do we love God because of Who He Is, or because of what we think He will do for us? Do we think if we please Him, He perhaps owes us a pretty good life or at least some assurance of freedom from disasters and calamities?

I watched an episode of “The West Wing” last night. Martin Sheen, who plays the U.S.President, is distressed because his elderly secretary, Mrs. Van Landingham, a long-time friend and patriot who had just purchased her first-ever brand new car, was killed in an auto accident that very same week. When the church has emptied after the funeral, President Barton asked security to seal the church, after which he proceeded to bash God with a tirade that is raw and arrogant and wicked. He accused God of being a murderous tyrant among other names too treacherous to record. I felt lightning might strike my house at any moment just for having hosted the blasphemous rant.

And yet, more than once, I have found my unbending will questioning God, “Why?”  In the end, I have always been able to trust His heart. I climb back into His lap. I call Him Abba Father. 

Even if I ask Him “why” one-hundred times, He always welcomes me back onto his lap. Because all any of us Piglets or Clydes have to do to find God’s favor is to find pleasure and comfort and wholeness in Who He Is. 

“Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars?

He brings them out like an army, one after another,

calling each by its name.

Because of his great power and incomparable strength,

not a single one is missing.

O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?

O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

Have you never heard? Have you never understood?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

Even youths will become weak and tired,

and young men will fall in exhaustion.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40: 26-31