My eyes rush along the lines… fearing the ending.

Twinkle Toes was my cat from the age of 9 years old. She was shy and yet friendly to those she knew. Her name came because she had a small bit of white at the tips of her feet, and on her underside against the black fur everywhere else. She wasn’t like any cat, she was very meticulous about grooming herself, and keeping herself clean. She didn’t roam away from home very often. She could nearly always be found around the house somewhere, most of the time in her favorite cat box in the woodshed. Always polite to the other cats, even at mealtime when the pushy ones got to eat first she would contentedly wait her turn. Often I remember taking one of the food dishes and putting it off out of the way so she could eat. One of our cats was particularly pushy and would come to check out if this food was different. Never a fighter, Twinkle Toes just let him take the bowl and eat the food, returning to eating after he left satisfied it wasn’t something special!

I think back on that year that she had a kitten. I still remember finding her in the garage in a box off in one corner, with a kitten! He was a single kitten, that dark gradated off-white color to his fur and a short stubby tail with a crooked bone at the end. He grew to be a good strong cat, when we gave him away to some friends. But that’s the only time I can recall Twinkle Toes having a kitten or kittens. She just wasn’t the type to be out in the woods messing with the male cats. She was too careful for that. When the rest of our cats were giving us too many kittens, Twinkle Toes got in with the lot that went to the vet to be neutered. But her personality never changed, she still was the same shy laid-back cat.

I remember just two weeks ago when I was at home… Twinkle Toes and the other two cats were living in a box on the front porch. Over the years, aging together, they were getting along quite well. I remember spending time with Twinkle Toes, petting her. I noticed how thin and bony she had become. But she still remembered me and enjoyed every second that I spent with her.

The words sink in as I read… The email was typed by my mom. Twinkle Toes had taken a turn for the worse. Thin, weak and frail, she could hardly walk. My mom brought her inside out of the cold winter weather, putting her on her lap while she worked. Instead of putting her back outside when she finished she laid her on a towel on the bathroom floor. On the floor, she enjoyed the heat coming through the heated tiles. With food and water near, she rested contentedly. When my mom started to put her outside before going to town, Twinkle Toes politely refused. Having stayed outside in cold winter weather nearly all her life, this time she wanted to stay inside. It was only reasonable, she was weak enough… it might do her good.

When my mom returned home from town 8 hours later, she found that Twinkle Toes had died contentedly right on the warm tile. Even though we live in a world of sin, it’s hard to part with the animals that God puts in our lives…

I can think of many lessons to be learned here, but one stands out among all the rest. A cat, one of the least of all Creation, is able to tug at our heart strings… yet what about other people, who’s souls are infinitely of more worth. Do they tug at our heart strings? Do we allow them to tug at our heart strings? Or do we just shut them off, outside our life, with no connection to us, or to the Truth, the Way, the Life? Do you let the cries of the unreached, the cries of the Macedonians, the cries of those with no opportunity, do you let their cries tug at your heart strings? Will you?