Nursing

Here recently, I have been going through a personal struggle.   I was feeling more than just a little blue.   I was beginning to feel strangled, smothered and just plain old YUCK!  Slipping into old habits of “the blues,”  I found myself in bed with the covers over my head silently crying and praying to be released from it all.  Pulling up the bootstraps only around my kids, I managed to find the “want to” to go volunteer.  Isaiah 58 reminds us to help the oppressed when we are feeling oppressed.  So, I did just that..

I walked into the humane society feeling rotten, worn down, and frowning.  I made small talk and found myself cuddling with a puppy.  What is it about puppy breath???  I mean, come on!  It melted away some of the yuck.  The sweet kisses and the wet nose chipped away at the rotten feeling.

And then….

The director’s daughter showed up with a box… a girl scout cookie box.  Cookies!!!  Oh wait!  Lent!  A frown crept back on my face..

And then..

She opened the box.  Four tiny kittens, barely a couple days old, laid in that box.  My heart stopped.  I pulled one out.  Its tiny feet stretched out looking for its mommy.  It cried from hunger.  The crying I had done before seemed so insignificant.  This tiny creature, God’s tiny creature, was fighting to stay alive without a mother.

See someone put these four tiny babies inside the box and left it on the side of the road.  A lady driving by thought someone had lost a brand new box of Girl Scout cookies and she stopped.  She brought them to the Humane Society for help.  And help they were getting.  Sadly though, kittens are fragile at this age.  Without a mommy cat, it is almost a death sentence.

There is a special lady in our community who opens her heart to feed the newborn animals.  She was given two litters the week before and couldn’t take another.  As much as she wanted to,  she knows her limits.  God bless her heart… she already had a set of puppies to feed and then two litters of kittens.  Heart of gold, I tell ya.  Well, I was asked if I would like to be the surrogate mother for these babies.  Why of course!!!

So for 24 hours, I dropper fed these tiny babies.  I held this tiny life in my hands.  I petted each one gently as I dropped a little formula on each tiny pink tongue.  I whispered a prayer over each one during each feeding (round the clock!)  My heart melted.  I was so afraid something terrible would happen.  I couldn’t sleep.  I would wake up and check on them.  If they were asleep, I would wake them just to make sure everything was okay.

I had a wonderful time.  All the YUCK that I had been carrying around had slipped away.  My full attention was on these babies.  Every time I heard a little whimper, I jumped up, dropper in hand, and fed.  Then I would gently clean each one just like a mommy cat would do… So helpless!

Then came the call… The director said a lady’s cat just had a litter of stillborn kittens.  If this mommy cat will accept our babies then there is a good chance of survival.  I quickly packed up my babies and rushed them to the shelter.  I wanted my babies to live.  I had gotten so attached to them that I didn’t want think of losing them to the harsh reality that newborn kittens rarely survive without a mommy cat.  I handed off my sweet babies to a stranger.  She assured me that her mommy cat would take care of them.  And she did… they are thriving!!  I am so thankful that this lady wanted to help my babies.  Now I am counting down the 4 weeks until I can see them again.  I wonder if they will remember me…

When we are feeling helpless, God wants us to hand over our troubles to him.  There are times my knowledge and expertise is limited.  But God is so much more capable of handling my troubles.  I could have nursed those kittens and be determined to do every thing in my power to keep them alive.  What was best for those babies was a real life mommy cat.  I knew if I didn’t hand it over… things would have gotten bad.  It was a no brainer to hand those babies over to a cat.  So why am I so selfish with my troubles?  Why do I insist on nursing them myself ?  Handing them over to God is what is best…  I know that and yet I rarely do.  And of course, most of the time, things get worse.  If I am to thrive, I need God to do the nursing.

I hope you enjoy your Tuesday… God bless!!