When people ask me how many cats I have, I always laugh and tell them I’ll have to get to know them better before I can answer that. But you won't tell anyone, right?

We were a one-cat household for a while, then a two-cat household for many years. But when God gives you a calling to love the unwanted fur angels, a beacon of light gets attached to your forehead, signaling the needy from miles around. It's hard to keep the numbers in check after that. 

We started the fall of 2008 with two cats, but that October, we accidentally adopted a lean, black street cat that we named Lucky. He had shown up outside our home and seemed intent on staying. To protect our inside-outside cats, I made an appointment with the vet for the new cat to receive vaccinations and be neutered. 

When I picked him up, they told me Lucky couldn't go outside for ten days. I said, Oh no, he's not mine. They said, Well, he can't go outside with those stitches. Ugh. I knew my husband would never believe I didn’t do that on purpose, but I really hadn’t. Once you keep a cat in your home for ten days, he’s officially yours, so for the first time ever, we went from two cats to three.

Fast forward to the summer of 2009. One of the local dog rescues called me and said someone had turned in a three-month old kitten—no mama, no siblings. They had no place for him and could I please take him. Of course I said no, but they challenged me when I said my husband would kill me. Will he really kill you? they said. Well, noooo. 

We always took in strays that were full grown, so I said I would try it. My son was delighted, as he had never had a kitten or a puppy, but my husband said, Take that cat back now! and he was serious. However, after meeting him in person, Hubby said, We're going to keep this kitten and he's mine. Hello Harvey! That brought the count up to an unprecedented four.

Harvey terrorized the adult cats with constant surprise attacks and wrestle-mania because he had no one else to play with. People told me we would have to get him a buddy. Are you kitten me?! After a few more weeks of Harvey incessantly pestering the others, I reluctantly went to a cat rescue where I was drawn to a crazy-looking little fella that was half-kitten, half koala bear cub. 

Herschel as a kitten and full-grown in 2017.

I knew he would turn into some kind of beautiful and later learned he was a Siberian Forest mix. They are large cats with thick coats, huge manes and tails, and tufts of hair growing out of their big paws. Enter Herschel, named after the man who found him, his mom and sister at Sylvan Park in Nashville. If you're counting, yes that made five. We went from two cats to five in one year's time and we haven't been normal ever since.

By September, 2016, three of those five cats had crossed over the rainbow bridge, and as of last Friday, we said goodbye to Herschel after a difficult battle with stomach cancer these last three months. While this is very sad for us, I also recognize it’s part of life. Herschel’s suffering is over and he leaves much for us to celebrate and be grateful for.

My lesson today is two-fold. First, sometimes the gift finds you, and second, life is short so live like you are dying (because we are).

Every single cat we've taken in to keep or foster has brought us a gift that only they could deliver. Had we not opened our doors, those gifts wouldn't have found us. 

Herschel was nicknamed 'Ambassador.' He didn't care much for people besides us, but he loved other cats. For every kitty we nursed or fostered, he was our greeter cat. When they first arrived and needed calming, we would bring in Herschel so he could convey love and comradery, and let them know they had landed in a safe place. 

Herschel was a gentle giant, first to greet us in the morning when we opened our bedroom door, and a regular part of our bedtime unwinding, giving bear hugs and taking pets. We're grateful for the gift he was to us in numerous ways.

Making that final appointment was so challenging, but I felt God whisper to me that I wouldn’t be alone and He would hold my hand. When the day came to say goodbye, I was getting ready to put Herschel in the crate to leave and felt a nudge to do a thing I often do with the Bible and that's open it to a random page, looking for something to jump out at me. I opened to Isaiah 42 and there it was, Isaiah 42:6, confirmation of the promise from God to hold my right hand during the difficult task. A gift found me because I was willing to honor the nudge to stop and read.

When I left the vet, it was spitting snow, a fitting send-off for a Siberian Forest Cat. As a snowflake hit my windshield, it dissolved almost instantly. It was there, and then it was not. In the same way, I understood how quickly our lives come and go. 

Leaving home a few hours later to take Herschel to our wooded acreage west of Nashville to be buried in the forest, my husband saw a lone buzzard flying over our home. Buzzards are always flying in groups so it was odd to see just one. My husband's nickname for Herschel had been 'Old Buzzard' and he felt that sighting was a message from Herschel letting us know he was fine, and on his way to his new home. Another gift had found us.

Are you open and available for gifts to find you? We're surrounded by them and all it takes to receive them is an open heart, and sometimes a little curiosity and imagination. May you be open, curious and full of imagination today.

Secondly, may we each hold the truth closely of how short life really is and make sure we're making our time count. I remember our "cat expansion" from two cats to five like it was yesterday. Though life has brought us more to love, rescue, and be rescued by, all but one of those first five are gone. It seems like they were just here not that long ago. One by one, their time was up.

Over and over, I will steer us back to December 31 in Finding the Gift. If we live like we're dying, we will know peace, joy, adventure, fulfillment, and love. We will rack up and give away a ton of gifts. We will be much less likely to face regrets when the time comes to say goodbye. Our end may come unexpectedly and premature, or we may surpass one-hundred years. Either way, live today so your imprint is deep and wide, felt and known, loved and grieved when that final day comes. Give this world the full gift of you.

Farewell Herschel, my beautiful big bear.

Does today's meditation resonate with you? Please share your voice in our FTG Readers Group on Facebook. Your hopes, thoughts and dreams matter to me.

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Cheers to a great week, noticing the gifts that matter most. Feel free to share with a friend.

My painting of the week is below!

Until next time...

To your gifts!

Angela

Abstract Painting of the Week
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Sacred Ground 24x30 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

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