"A good man is concerned
for the welfare of his animals..."
(Proverb 12:10 LB)


Lord, we're sending You a cat today,
She won't take up much room;
Before she left this earth
She was as skinny as a broom.

For two decades she lived down here,
Arthritis got her knees;
But in her youth I hope You watched
Her shimmy up those trees!

I saw her running to the house
And then, for goodness sake!
I saw what dangled from her mouth:
A brownish, wriggling snake!

Each new day found her sitting there
Outside my bathroom door;
"Good morning!" ~ pat upon the head
Was all she waited for.

When she forsook the outside life
But still was young and fat,
She'd leap and run fullspeed ahead
Trying to catch Skyrat.*

But then one day, her food untouched,
She kept her head hung low;
Her grace and strength had slipped away
And left her clumsy-slow.

Her legs had trouble holding her
And she could hardly walk;
And we saw how she didn't stop
To listen when we'd talk.

The vet did not give us much hope
For our grey "flannel" cat;
And so we gave her back to You,
One shot and that was that.

Our hearts will sadly miss her now
For she was family;
So when You see her coming, Lord,
Please tell that cat for me...

That when we see our Heavenly home
We won't expect one mouse!
Or any crawling varmint loose
To roam our Heavenly house.

Instead we hope to hear her bawl
(As Burmese often do)
And she'll be saying:
"See, I've taken care of things for you!"

For cherished pets will wait for us
In Heavenly homes above ~
When God asks what they found below
And their answer is..."Love!"


--Connie

*Skyrat: A cloth toy-mouse on a line
attached to a fishing pole.