Restless For Love

The cat was particularly happy this morning.

We were up.  His boy was up.  He got his food right on time first thing in the morning, just like he wants.  We were hovering around the house, going in and out the front door, starting cars and getting the day going.  People everywhere!  Well, 2 of us anyway.  He seemed to think it was an ideal time to play and be silly and revel in this magical kingdom that he's found over here in Dynna-land.

"I'll stare you down 

and pounce on you 

and jump on the coffee table 

and, 

if I'm lucky, 

I'll find something to 

shove onto the floor

with my paw!"

Oh Jingles.

His favorite thing in the morning - when I open the living room curtains so that he can peer at the world from his cat perch.  Those floor to ceiling windows worked for my toddler-boys, now they work for the cat too.  Who knew.

So he jumped up onto his perch and his little cat breath made a tiny little fog patch on the living room window as he established his place in this world for the coming day and I thought to myself "I just love that cat."

My heart is love-restless these days.

I'm reading the news with more passion than I'm used to giving.  Bad news.  Loud opinions.  Line drawing.  Assumptions made.  Name calling.

And then Valentine's Day strikes.

And it's all about The Love.

I like love.

Like my cat, I like to be surrounded by love.  I AM surrounded by love.  I have a loving family, I have three men who regularly tell me they love me, hug me, kiss me, take care of me.  There are days when I'm with them that my inner-Jingles rejoices in the Dynna-love and while I don't tear around the house chasing balls of yarn and purring while you scratch me behind the ears, being around these guys here when we're all being loving is enough for me.  It's plenty.  It's almost all I need.

Did you notice I said "almost"?

You see, we were never created to be completely satisfied with people-love.  We were created to desire God-love too.  God-love first, actually.

The world around me is in fiery turmoil with harsh accusations that we aren't respected or supported.  That can be true of current events, but it's also true in our daily lives - you didn't "fill in the blank" so you don't love me enough, you didn't show it, you didn't say it, you opposed me, no one cares, I'm alone, I'm alone even when I'm not alone, nobody listens, nobody cares.

It makes me want to shout - "BUT I DO CARE!"  

How can I convince the world that it isn't always as it feels - that there is honestly 

More love

and 

Less hate than you think.

It guts me to suspect that the notion that we think that we're unloved hurts the huge heart of Father God.  

His words to us in Jeremiah 31:3 - 

"I have loved YOU with an 

everlasting love;

I have drawn you

With unfailing kindness."

Or as The Message translation says - 

"I've never quit loving you

and never will.

Expect love, love and more love!

So now I'll start over with you

and build you up again."

And that's what we need to get back to.  Our deep quest for love will never be found completely in community although we are charged to care for and love one another.  

But the further we crowd God out and the more we look for peoplekind (lol!!!) mankind to come up with the magic fix for what's wrong with our world today, the bigger the gap will grow between us all.  Man cannot fix man.  

The perfect Valentine cannot fix our craving for love.

The perfect pet (hello Jingles) cannot fix our craving for love.

If I can point you back to the cat, though, "the cat" knows that Dynna-love is a real thing and that we enjoy him and care for him and even say we love him.  But at the end of his day, he's mostly just okay with being a cat.  He has this inner knowledge that all is well with him and no amount of play or petting or attention really seems to alter his happiness.  He just knows that he's important because cats just accept their place in life and don't seem to need hourly reassurance of that fact.  

And while I'm not saying that we don't need reassurance, I am saying that our assurance comes from within, from the - 

mighty huge love 

of a 

mighty huge Father-God.

Wrestle it through until you figure it out.