The Missing Gift

If you read my post "Will My Kitten Go To Heaven?", then you recognize the cutie in this photo.  Gracie Lou.  She has now been missing for 6 days.

She had been with us a mere 6 months, but in that short time, I had become smitten.  I even gave up on perfectly clean floors and a hairless rug.  I have dozens of pictures of her sleeping in the funniest positions.  I miss waking up and giving her a morning "rub down", then watching her play with her toys.  I miss her popping up in the window to let us know she wants in.  I even miss her immediately wanting back out to go chase some unsuspecting bird or mouse.  But mostly, I miss stroking her soft fur and hearing that purr, while she tolerated me holding her like a baby. Ha!

Yes, I know she is just a cat.  I am, after all, the last person I thought would be crying over losing a pet.  But here I am.  I have cried tears over my Gracie.  I have asked God the why question (why did He give me the kitten as a gift and then take her away or allow her to be taken, depending on your theology).  And I have landed solidly on:

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Job 1:20-22

Whether it be a very special kitten, parent, spouse, child or friend...loss beckons to know why.  Why would a loving God allow such pain and sorrow?  Why love at all, if it only ends in loss?  Why follow God, if this is the way He treats His servants/friends?  WHY?!

I can't give you a satisfactory answer, other than we live in a fallen world.  Any attempt falls short, of comfort, in the moment of pain.  In the here and now, so much doesn't make sense and never will.  What allows me to align with Job is faith and hope.  Faith in a faithful God.  A God who IS love and works for our eternal good. (1 John 4:8, Romans 8:28)  Hope in the promise of perfection to come.  A time when pain and sorrow are no more. (Revelation 21:4)  I believe that God's Word is true and His ways higher than mine.  I believe that He rewards those who seek Him.  I believe because of Jesus, who came, died and rose again to redeem and restore. (Isaiah 61) 

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

Romans 8:18-21

I don't know what eternity with God will be like, but I know it will be great.  David declared "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." (Psalm 16:11)  Amen!