Two cats live in the woods behind our apartment complex.
One has long orange fur matted with burs and balls of snow. The other is gray and white and looks rather elderly.
They aren’t friendly—not to me, at least. (Of course, I’m walking a dog every time I see them, so I suppose that has something to do with it.) They don’t wear collars or use the bathroom in litter boxes. They scavenge for leftovers in dumpsters. They stay away from people. They are used to being wild.
But there is a woman in purple snow pants who is not intimidated by their wild hearts.
I’ve seen her several times now. She walks the trail beside the woods whether the sun is shining or whether snowflakes are dancing through the cold gray sky. She brings food for the cats, along with two paper plates. One for the orange cat, and one for the gray cat.
She walks down to the woods, even in snow up to her knees, and calls for them to come. “I always come to feed my cats,” she tells me, “One day, I want to get them to trust me.”
Perhaps one day, she wants to make it so those cats don’t have to live in the woods anymore.
I admire her persistence. She cares for those cats. She loves them, even when they don’t show her any love back.
She hopes that one day, things will change and the cats will trust her.
They come for the food, but they keep their distance from her. As soon as the last crumbs are licked from the paper plates, they run into the woods again.
She isn’t phased by their lack of engagement. She continues her walk along the trail so they can eat in peace, then collects the paper plates on the way back to her car.
When I look at this story, of the two cats in the woods and the woman who feeds them, I can’t help but wonder…
What if we all loved with that kind of persistence? What if we all loved with that kind of hope?
In 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter of the Bible, Paul writes that love, “…always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7).
That’s the kind of love God shows us. His love hopes that one day, we would learn to trust our Creator. His love perseveres, even when we mess up time and time again. Even when we turn and run back into the woods.
How can we love like that today?
I believe that persistent, hopeful love has the power to brighten our lives and strengthen our communities. Love modeled by our own Creator.
And never forget… you are onederfully created by Him.
Love,
Becca
