I’m My Daddy’s Pet

She comes running as I eased my car into our driveway.

“Who let you out?” I asked while swinging the car door shut behind me. She just trills and rolls the back of her head to the ground. She lets the rest of her body follow until she is lying on her side.

I picked her up and gave her a hug. She has learned to tolerate this maneuver and just purred heartily along. She used to hiss and kick and scratch through it when she was still a kitten. Yes, she’s a big cat now.

I put her back down on the pavement. She runs ahead of me as I opened the gate and walked towards the house door. As usual, when I get there, she will be pushing at the door with her paws as though to tell me, “Open, open, open.”

I unlocked the door and just like a ritual, she shoots through it and runs straight to the family room where the house door to the garage is. She pokes her head through the pet door there and she’s in her “supply station” once again.

It’s a small wonder why, even though the garage is not her favorite spot in the house, it is the first place she visits when she comes home. That’s where the cat food and her water bowl are. Sometimes, when she decides to bed down right there, you have to come pull her out to enjoy the privilege of her company inside the house.

Which brings me to my Father in heaven. He, too, has seen to it that I am amply provided. I have a roof above my head and walls around me just like Kitty’s garage. She has her cat food, I have my Atkins diet. She has fur, I have clothes on my back.

Just like I ensure Kitty gets her supplies replenished, God made sure I knew he was going to make sure my needs are met. He said so in his Word. He said that if I heed the locusts he sends to my life, rend my heart and surrender myself to him he will do this:

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:26)

As someone he has adopted through Christ into his family, I enjoy the privileges he has promised to his people. And the promises as to food and clothing aren’t few:

He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. (Psalm 147:14)

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. (Psalm 111:5)

The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry. (Proverbs13:25)

I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. (Psalm 132:15)

My Father in heaven says I don’t have to worry about such things:

So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (Matthew 6:31, 32)

I tell you, I have yet to see my Father let me down on all these. If I ever go hungry, it is always because I have neglected to step out of my tent to collect my manna, so to speak. But never for lack of supply.

And, yes, I do get a hug from him too a lot. I guess it’s because I have ceased to kick and scream at him the way I did when I did not know Jesus Christ yet as my personal Savior and LORD.

It’s fun to be Daddy’s pet. And his lap is always open to anyone that wants it.

Praise be to your Name, my Father.

In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.