The farmer, with heavy duty gloves up to his elbows, fought off Gracie’s aggressive siblings who hissed and scratched at him for about ten minutes before he was able to pull her out of the oversized wire crate where she was lodging with her two siblings. When he handed her to Brooksyne the “I’m just going to look” plan changed into “Let’s take her home with us” and that was that! Dottie, our first cat here in Lancaster County, was with us 17½ years before her death three years ago yesterday. As most all of you know, you really don’t “just look” at a puppy or kitten, they steal your heart and work their way into your home almost immediately.
Gracie had some procedures done by a local vet on Tuesday that required an overnight stay and we picked her up yesterday morning. We are sure it was a rather traumatic experience for her since you really can’t explain to a kitten what is going on and even if you could it would still be traumatic!
We have a cute little cat carrier and Brooksyne held her in her lap in the carrier on the way home. I reached in to pet her and in spite of her confusion and pain she began to purr! She’s doing fine this morning, resting peacefully and getting around like nothing happened as she adjusts to her new normal. We were a bit concerned yesterday upon seeing her, but today she’s already beginning to play again.
I’ve really enjoyed hearing a cat purr since my childhood when my sister had a Siamese cat named “Al”.* In looking up why cats purr I read this, “Cats purring at a frequency of 25-100Hz correspond with established healing frequencies in therapeutic medicine for humans, and it gives humans a calming stimulus”. The cat’s purring says to me, “Ahhh, thank you! It feels so good when you repeatedly stroke my fur with your gentle hand”. Perhaps this is exaggerated but medical studies claim that one’s blood pressure can be lowered when interacting with a cat and listening to its purring. I guess we might refer to a cat’s purring as pet therapy.
We hear a lot about therapy today. It seems the vast majority of people will undergo some kind of therapy; whether it’s physical therapy, psychotherapy, equine therapy, drug therapy, radiation therapy. Wikipedia even mentions duct tape occlusion therapy (used to remove warts), in its long list of therapies. In its simplest form, “Therapy involves an individual seeking an attempted remediation for a particular health matter, usually following a diagnosis.”
With that definition in mind if we go to the Bible to have our spiritual condition diagnosed we would find that we were born into a fallen world with a congenital sin problem resulting in a sin-sick soul, really, we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). The spiritual “therapy” for such a troubling condition is to meet with the Great Physician to receive a spiritual transplant. He will take our terminal sins and exchange our sin nature for His spiritual nature. That’s redemption!!!
With such a supernatural and unmeritable redemption our praise should be an involuntary expression of thanksgiving to our Great Redeemer, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me“.
Many have wondered, “What is the distinction between praise and thanksgiving?” It is commonly taught that praise is our worship toward God concerning who God is while thanksgiving is our worship toward God concerning what He has done. In practice though they are used interchangeably such as in our daily texts.
The writer of Hebrews ended his letter with the challenge issued to believers to praise the Lord. “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name”.
We encourage you to rest in the arms of our loving God and express your love for Him as you recall the ancient words of the Psalmist, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me”. As His children, may we offer up our praise and thanksgiving to Him today and just praise the Lord!
Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
