Cats and God and Being Blind

About a year ago, I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, when I heard something go THUD in the kitchen. "Lulu's on the counter again," I thought, irritated, but before my thoughts wandered to where I'd stashed the disinfectant spray, I started wondering what she had knocked off the counter that could have made that sound.

A sort of hollow, plasticky sound. An empty soda bottle? We hadn't had soda in the house lately. A Tupperware container? I didn't think I'd left any sitting out after I washed them last.

THUD!

There it was again. And I was sure we didn't have two of whatever it was lined up on the counter. I rinsed out my mouth and wandered into the kitchen, ready for anything.

Or so I thought.

It took me a while to find her, but I finally spotted Lulu in the corner of the kitchen, hunkered into a frightened crouch, facing the door of the corner cabinet, with a blue plastic watering can stuck over her head.

THUD THUD THUD!

In her blind panic, her senses dulled by an opaque plastic jug, my cat was trying to free herself by running her head against the cabinets.

Oh, you stupid cat, I thought, watching her battering-ram herself deeper into her prison.

Sometimes, I still regret not running to grab my camera to document the truly funny sight of my cat with a watering can stuck over her head, but in the moment, I could only think of how scared she must be. I hurried to her, cooing words of comfort, and pulled the can off her head to reveal her big black eyes and her little pink nose.

And, like so many times when thinking about my cats, I have to wonder: Is this how God reacts to us when we're terrified and blinded by our immediate circumstances? When all we know is that we don't know where we are, or how to get loose, or who's standing behind us, we panic and do the first thing that comes to mind. Even if it is slam our heads against the wall.

Oh you stupid cat. When we ram our heads against the wall and try to fix things ourselves, it only shoves the watering can tighter over our heads. Sometimes the only real solution is to sit still and say, "Help?" God's ready to free us with opposable thumbs.