CHAPTER SIX
TILLY AND THE MORNING GLORIES
CHAPTER SIX
Jumping down from her perch, Tilly decided to go back to her own room. She walked past the other cats without saying anything, and started down the long hallway. As she walked, she looked into all the small rooms. Passing them like this made her think of the first time she had been down this hallway. It was only yesterday that the man carried her in the cage box, and it had been so scary for her. She never imagined that only one day later she would be walking all over this place, knowing her way around.
Tilly came to the room next to hers and looked into it. The gray Persian cat, who ran into her room earlier today, was curled up on a rug covered box. When those mean cats chased him, she thought, he must have tried to run back to his room. Either they chased him past it, or else he was so scared that he ran into her room thinking it was his. She was standing there looking in, when she heard a quiet voice behind her say, “hello, Tilly.” Turning around she saw a cat about the same age she was, who was all dark brown. Her voice was quiet and gentle. Tilly liked her right away.
“How did you know my name?” Tilly asked the brown cat.
“Gershom told me. My name’s Carly. I’m in the room right next to yours. I just saw Gershom. He wanted me to tell you he’s fine. He’ll see you later.”
“Carly, why did those cats act like they did? The beat up on me, and that cat in there,” Tilly said, pointing her front paw at the gray cat.
“Well, they attacked you because you tried to stop Reuel from going with them. They didn’t like what you did. As for Kiam in there, they beat up on him because he’s a Persian. Kiam doesn’t have to do anything for them to beat him up. They beat him up for what he is, a long haired cat.”
“He can’t help that,” Tilly said. “He can’t do anything to change that.”
“He shouldn’t have to,” Carly replied. “God made all of us, large and small, every color, and long and short haired. We are all beautiful.”
“Why are they like that? Tilly asked.
“I guess because it makes them feel important. They don’t understand that love of Jesus,” Carly answered. “If they did, they would know they were already very important, and loved for who they are. Then they wouldn’t have to hurt others to make themselves feel important. They went after Reuel because they heard he scratched Kiam and hurt him. They think he’s like them, so they want him to stay in their room.”
“That’s not true,” Tilly told Carly. “Reuel scratched Kiam because Kiam sat on his perch. He never said anything about Kiam being a Persian. Anyway, aren’t there any other long haired cats in here?”
“A few of them come and go. Not many though. They seem to get adopted out of here by people faster than other cats. People like their looks and choose them for their own,” Carly explained.
“I’ve been adopted into God’s family,” Tilly said. “Can I still be adopted by nice people who want me to be their cat?”
“Of course you can. Your chances of being adopted by nice people are very good. The chances for Reuel’s new friends are not so good. That’s because whenever people show up here looking for a cat, they hiss and snarl at them. They scare the people away from adopting them. They would rather stay here and be with each other. Be careful that you don’t talk too much about wanting to be adopted in front of them. They’ll follow you around laughing at you,” Carly said.
“Okay,” Tilly replied. “I’ll be careful. And I thank you. And, one more thing, Carly. Tell Kiam that I like him. Tell him I’ll be his friend. I don’t care what those meanies think, I think he’s very beautiful.”
“I will, Tilly. I will. I’m glad you feel that way. Those mean cats not only beat up on Kiam, but they threaten all the other cats, telling them that if they try to be friends with Kiam they’ll get picked on too. Because of that, most of the other cats stay away from Kiam, leaving him alone most of the time.”
Tilly returned to her room after talking to Carly. She needed to rest for a little while. When Gershom returned, Tilly saw how many scratches he had. There was a long scratch on his nose, and smaller ones on his face and chest. She began crying the minute she saw him.
“Don’t cry,” Gershom said. “It’s only little scratches. They’ll heal quickly. They don’t ever hurt anymore.”
“I’m so angry,” Tilly told him. “Those mean cats should be kept locked in their room, and not let out. They beat up on Kiam for being a Persian. They beat up on me for trying to keep Reuel away from them. Then they scratched you all over because you protected me.”
“Many times they are kept locked in their rooms,” Gershom said quietly.
“Good,” Tilly replied. “They deserve that.”
She looked at Gershom and he was staring at the wall. His face was sad.
“It doesn’t help them,” he said. “It just makes them angrier. A lot of them are like they are because they were treated mean themselves, and locked up away from others.”
“What about Reuel?” Tilly asked. “We weren’t mean to him. Why doesn’t he want to be adopted into God’s family? Why doesn’t he want to be adopted by nice people, and have a nice home?”
“He did, once, you know,” Gershom answered. “He had a nice home.”
“He did?” Tilly asked. She wanted to know more.
“Yes. It’s a good thing I got scratched, because when I was at the clinic where they took care of me I found out all about Reuel.”
“Tell me about it,” Tilly said. “I want to know what happened.”
“He was born at another animal shelter,” Gershom began. “He was adopted a few months ago when he was just a little kitten. These two people, a married couple, took him home with them. They took good care of him and he had a favorite place where he slept.
‘He was happy there. Then the man and the woman started fighting. They were angry at each other. Sometimes, one of them would leave and be gone for days. They didn’t like each other anymore. They were so busy fighting that they forgot all about Reuel. He went for days without food. They never petted or played with him anymore. He got so hungry he started eating out of the garbage can. One day he accidentally knocked over the can. When the people got home, they had a fight. They were stomping their feet and screaming at each other. Reuel hid in a closet. But when they saw the garbage can knocked over, they got mad at him. The man pulled him out of the closet by his front paws. He yelled at Reuel. Then he brought him here and left him.
‘Reuel doesn’t want to be adopted, Tilly, because he was adopted once. He doesn’t understand. His heart is broken. You can’t talk to Reuel about love, because he was loved once. He knows how wonderful it is to be loved. He needs God’s love. He needs the love of Jesus. Jesus loves you always and forever. Nothing can make Jesus stop loving you. Reuel sees love as something that can be mean and hurtful. He was adopted. They loved him, and then they didn’t. They cared about him, and then they didn’t. He needs to know that it wasn’t his fault that they stopped loving him. He needs to forgive those who hurt him, and only Jesus can love him enough to give him the strength to forgive them. We can’t give him enough love to heal his broken heart. We can’t guarantee him that we can always be with him. We can’t assure him that nothing will ever separate us from him. He wants love that can never be taken away from him. He knows that life can change without warning. One minute you have a nice place to sleep, good food, and a home. The next minute it’s all gone. He didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to him. He was a good cat. Now, after all that’s happened to him, he fears being hurt again. He doesn’t want love unless it’s forever. Or else he doesn’t want it at all.”
Tilly sat still and listened to Gershom talk. He was talking about Reuel, but she had been hurt too. She knew how Reuel felt inside. She knew how she felt inside when she was brought to this place.
“I know how he feels,” she whispered softly. “The same thing happened to me.”
Gershom smiled. “There are a hundred stories just like that in here,” he said. “And a hundred broken hearts.”
Tilly was quiet for a while. She stared into the hallway and thought about what Gershom said. Then she turned her attention back to him.
“What about you, Gershom?” she asked. “What’s your story? How did you come to live here?”
“I never had a home,” Gershom answered. “Maybe I should say I never had a house. I did have a home, in an old boat shed by the river. There were always a lot of fishing boats around. The fishermen would throw out anything they didn’t want, like small fish or leftover bait.”
“I didn’t even know there was a river around here,” Tilly said.
“Oh, it’s way at the end of the city, miles from here. A lot of cats stayed around because of all the food there. They would eat all the leftovers. The bigger and meaner you were, the more food you got to eat. That’s because the cats would fight over it. They would get as much as they could, then take it back to their own hiding place to eat. I got a lot of scratches fighting over food, but I never thought much about that. It was all I knew. I never thought there could be a better way to do things.
‘One day I met this really big cat. When I saw him I got worried. I thought I would never eat again if I had to fight this guy off for every fish. I’m sure everyone else had the same fear. The next time a fishing boat came in, no one went out except the big cat. Everyone was afraid of him. He went out and grabbed a fish. Then he did something I never saw anyone do before. He brought it to another cat, a momcat who had kittens in another shed. Then he went back and got another fish. This one he brought to another cat, a small and young one who never got enough to eat. He kept going back and getting fish, and bringing them to others.
‘Finally, us grown cats decided it might be alright if we went out and got our own fish from the boat. After all, we were strong enough to get our own meals. Then when we got to the boat, we saw only a few fish. There wasn’t enough for everyone to eat. The big cat came back just as a fight was about to break out between all us cats. He told us not to fight. He told us to just grab a fish, and take it to someone who needed it. We told him there wasn’t enough there to feed everyone. There were a lot of momcats and kittens, and both really young and really old cats around. We told him the food will be gone before we get any. ‘No it won’t’, he said, ‘just do what I tell you’.
‘We all wondered what he meant. But we all grabbed a fish, and took it to someone who needed it. The amazing thing was, that no matter how many times we each took a fish out of the boat, there would be more there by the time we got back. We couldn’t believe this was happening. Everyone ate and had food left over. We all asked the big cat how he knew there would be enough to feed everybody.
‘He told us that Jesus fed over five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. He said we shouldn’t worry about getting things, like the biggest fish, and hiding it away for ourselves. Instead, we must store up our treasure in heaven, not on earth. We all just stood there, looking at him. That’s because we didn’t have any idea how to store up treasure in heaven. The big cat told us that in order for us to store up treasure in heaven we had to know Who Jesus was, and what Jesus taught when He was here on earth.
‘He said Jesus was the Son of God, and whoever believed in Jesus believed in God, too. Jesus taught that He was the only way to get to heaven. That’s because even though God loved us dearly, we were separated from Him because of our sins. In order for us to get close to God, we must believe in Jesus, because Jesus washes away the sins that keep us away from God.
‘The big cat told us that Jesus said that whenever we showed kindness to others it was the same as if we showed kindness to Him. That meant if we shared what we had with someone else, it was just like we had shared what we had with Jesus Himself. That was how you stored up treasure in heaven. That’s how I learned about Jesus.”
“Whatever happened to the big cat?” Tilly asked.
“Oh, he wasn’t one to sit still, or stay in one place for very long,” Gershom told her. “He stayed with us for a few weeks, but then he wanted to move on. He wanted to teach others about Jesus. I don’t know where he is now. He might even be in heaven, considering how many years it’s been since I saw him.”
“You didn’t want to go out with him?” Tilly asked.
“No. At that time I wasn’t ready to leave the only home I ever had. After a while I started going out myself to teach other cats about Jesus. At first I didn’t go very far from home. I came back to see my friends and sleep in my own place. Then I started going farther and farther away. The farther away I went, the more I saw how much I was needed. I went into some scary places, where there was a lot of fighting among all the cats. To make matters worse, there were a lot of people who didn’t like us around. They would call the animal catchers to come pick us up. I always managed to escape whenever they showed up. Until one day when I got caught.”
“Oh, no,” Tilly said.
“Oh, yes,” Gershom replied. “That’s how I came to live here. At first I hated it here. I thought I could never be useful to Jesus while I was stuck in this place. I really wanted to get out. Then I started to make friends here. The longer I stayed, the more I wanted to help the cats who were stuck here like me. I decided one day that the cats here needed me as much as the cats outside. I’ve been here ever since.”
“You want to stay here?” Tilly asked. “Do you ever want to leave?”
“Not anymore. You see, Tilly, I want to be an example of the love of Jesus to those who don’t know Him. The cats around here know that things are always changing. Cats come, and then they leave. Sometimes, we lose friends to death. Sometimes, cats who are adopted come back when the people who took them don’t want them anymore. They need to know that there will always be someone here to love them. They need to see someone who reminds them that they are not alone. They need someone who can make them feel better, and help them. I can do that, because Jesus gave me His Holy Spirit to make me feel better and help me. Sometimes, the cats who don’t believe in Jesus see how much I love them and that makes them believe.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” Tilly said. “Does that make Jesus not love me as much as He does you?”
“Of course not,” Gershom told her. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to say. That’s why I told you how I felt when I first got here. I thought I was useless to Jesus. But I was wrong. You see, you can serve Jesus no matter where you are. You may get out of here. Your chances of getting adopted by kind people are good. No matter where you go, you are loved by Jesus and can serve Him. You just have to let Him lead you, through the Holy Spirit, so you can lead others to Him.”
“Is it important to lead others to Him?” Tilly asked. “Why would He care about us leading others to Him?”
“It’s a part of what we call ‘The Great Commission’,” Gershom answered. “Jesus wants us to tell others about Him so He can give them the love they need. He doesn’t like to see anyone suffer. He wants to reach them with His love and forgiveness. We tell others about Jesus because that’s what He told us to do. It’s a way of loving others the way Jesus loves them.”
Tilly listened to Gershom talk, and she knew in her heart that he was right. She wanted to be close to Jesus. She knew that she wanted to be able to give others the kind of love and forgiveness that Gershom gave them. She knew that only Jesus could help her be that way. But, she knew there was something she had to do first.
“Gershom, why do we have to forgive those who do bad things to us? I’m still mad at that big, reddish brown, cat who started all the trouble with Reuel.”
“That’s Joey, and I know he can be very mean,” Gershom told her. “Jesus told us that we have to forgive them. He said we have to love them and care about them.”
“Why should we do that?” Tilly asked.
“Jesus forgives us when we do things that hurt others, or when we don’t love Him, or show respect for Him, like we should. He was hated by many people because He told them the truth about themselves. He told them that they couldn’t get to God without Him. He told them that no matter how good they tried to be, or how much they prayed, or how many others they helped, they still couldn’t get to heaven without Him. They had to believe in Him as the Son of God or nothing else would matter. Whatever you do for others should be done so that they can see Jesus living in you. Forgiving others not only shows that you care about others, but it tells everyone that you love Jesus enough to do what He wants you to do.”
“Sometimes, when someone is really mean to me, like this cat named Freddy, who made me come here because he wouldn’t share his home with me, I not only don’t care about them, but I wish something bad would happen to them,” Tilly admitted.
“That’s seeking vengeance,” Gershom replied. “It’s when you want to hurt them back for what they did to you. Even if you don’t do anything to them, the way you feel about wanting them to be hurt is seeking vengeance in your heart. God said that we were not to seek vengeance against others. He said we must leave that to Him.”
“Why?” Tilly asked.
“Well, it’s because Jesus has things He wants us to do. He has a plan for our lives. He has special friends He wants to bring into our lives, and blessings He wants to give us. He also has a place for us in His family on earth. That means He has a job for us to do so that others will come to know Him. But, when we get involved in vengeance seeking we take our eyes off Jesus, and we look at the one who hurt us. He wants us to keep our heart and mind on Him, and we can’t do that if we’re busy thinking about what we can do to get back at someone who did something bad to us.”
“Oh, I understand that,” Tilly said. “It’s true that when someone does something that makes me mad, or hurts me, I spend time thinking about them and what they did to me. Instead of doing that, I should talk to Jesus about it. Maybe I should just forget about them, even if I can’t forgive them. How can we forgive someone if they hurt us?”‘
“First of all, we must be forgiven by Jesus,” Gershom explained. “His forgiveness makes the way clear for the Holy Spirit to come live inside us. Once we believe in Jesus, and ask Him to forgive us, He does. Then the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. By ourselves, we could never be as forgiving as Jesus wants us to be, or care about those who do bad things to us. The Holy Spirit helps us do those things. That’s why we sometimes say we get filled by the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit fills us so full of the love of Jesus that it starts to spill out of us, like a cup that overflows when too much water is poured into it. Before we can overflow with love, we must be filled with love. All the empty places in our hearts that come from being hurt or left behind or scared have to be filled up with love.”
Tilly knew that Gershom was right. She didn’t want to keep on being angry about things that already happened. She knew that forgiving others was something she could do, because she had the help of the Holy Spirit. She wanted to be close to Jesus more than she wanted anything else, and she knew He would want her to forgive others.
“I forgive them,” she said firmly. “I forgive all the people and cats who did mean things to me.”
Gershom smiled, and said, “Your words are music to God’s ears. He loves to see forgiveness in our hearts and to hear us say those words. He blesses you for forgiving others. Never forget that, Tilly.”
“I won’t Gershom. I’ll never forget that.”
“I have to go now,” Gershom finally said, standing up and getting ready to leave. “I have to go visit my friends who are in the special rooms.”
“Can I go with you,” Tilly asked.
“Well, I want to see one of the cats that you can’t. He picked up some illness on the streets. We don’t know how he got it, or if it can be spread to others. Most of our friends in the special rooms are sick with illnesses that you can’t catch. Some of them have been hurt in accidents, or they were born with conditions that make them less able to keep up with the other cats. They don’t have anything that can be dangerous to anyone else. This guy that I want to see might have something you can catch.”
“Maybe I can see the other cats, while you see him,” Tilly said. “I really want to go with you.”
“Okay, Tilly. You can visit with the others while I visit Buddy.”