I Was Supposed to Be Praying...But the Kittens!

I heard so much bad news today that it seemed like extra praying was in order this evening...

 

 

 after I had helped to clean up after supper and we had shredded a bunch of zucchini and yellow squash and chopped three huge onions for a batch of relish to sit overnight.

Plus tomorrow is the anniversary of September 11th.

More reason to pray. 

And I heard that the Tal i ban is putting off fireworks and thinking to make September 11th their Independence Day from the horrible America. And the creepy-crawly disease going around is putting more people in the hospitals, nurses and doctors who refuse the vac ci ne are going to lose their jobs, and Bide n just did more disastrous things, so--obviously, more reasons to pray. 

So I dutifully went out on the deck again, intending to put in an hour of prayer. I looked up at the stars and remembered what had happened about a week and a half ago when I reached clasped hands toward the sky-and seemed to feel His clasp on mine. 

 

And how I had asked God, "What can You do with one woman's hour of prayer?"

I wasn't sure what to ask Him this time. I tend to not ask the same thing twice. I get bored of that really, really fast. Plus Jesus said vain repetition is just that--vain. So I just was wondering what to say, and even what to do out there under the quiet stars. I had left the kitchen light on so I could see a little on the deck. Should I kneel? Reach up to Him again? Walk and pray? 

Or just sit on the swing and pray?

And then the kittens caught my attention. I know, I was supposed to be praying. 

But the kittens!

I couldn't help reaching down and stroking their soft fur, and letting them twirl about and come for more at my feet

 They come out of hiding at night after the canine creatures are all bedded down for the night.

Should I feel guilty to interrupt my prayer reverie to pet a kitten?

But I thought, "If I care about a poor little kitten out in the dark that wonders if I am okay with its presence, doesn't God care about me in the darkness that is in the world today?

Doesn't He just maybe want to reach down and touch me in the middle of my uncertainty and wonderings? Does He maybe just want to comfort me tonight instead of me just trying to pray for a bunch of things for an hour?"

I ended up going inside to snag my Bible and brought it out, hugging it to me. 

It was too dark to read, but I just clutched it close to my heart, remembering the Psalm I had read today about trusting in the Lord and how great is His goodness toward those who trust in Him, and how He hides them in the secret place of His presence from strife of tongues.

Those kittens interrupted my prayer time and turned it into a time of thinking about God's great love. I sat on the swing under the stars thinking of how He demonstrated that love first and most when He gave His only begotten Son to die so that we wouldn't have to perish, but could have everlasting life. And how He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

And that was my prayer--about all those who need to come to repentance.

And for those who already have. 

And soaking in His love, and being thankful for His demonstrations of it.

Not the least of which is playful kittens in the darkness.