Walk Through the Door

Mr. Jade--He Looks Innocent, but He Started it All

Revelation 3:20 NIV

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Bandit is sleek. Black with white markings. Thin and fast. She's smarter than all of us put together and doesn't trust us any further than she can see us. She wears a white mask to conceal her identity, but we can see her hiding from us as she shakes in her corner. She wants to be with us but stays on the outskirts of our life.

Tonight's challenge is to catch her. So far, we have lost.

I spotted fleas on Mr. Jade, so he received the first flea treatment. His little sister, Precious, the gullible one, was easy to sweet-talk to her treatment. 

We put the two cats in the garage and then tried to corral Bandit. Allison is the only one who has luck with her. Poor cat had some kind of trauma the first few months of her life before we found her at the vet's, and she has never taken to being touched by people. 

She will sit near us, but she won't interact with us. She just wants to observe us and feel like a part of us. She is a cat's cat and enjoys socializing with the others who look out for their psychotic sister.

Now we try to lure her with her favorite beverage--tuna juice. The other cats are confused about why she gets all the juice. They don't understand the trick. Unfortunately, she does. She doesn't take the bait. Another victory for Bandit. 

If we don't catch her tonight, she may inherit all the fleas from her brother and sister. An old cartoon from my childhood flashes across my mind: Flea families pack their bags, hop off one animal one-by-one and look for a more suitable animal to move to.

Poor Bandit. She's about to become Daytona Beach during Bikers Week or the French Riviera in June for refugee flea families.

It's official.  She defeated us. Day One, all Five Rounds went to her. She gets the Green Jacket for the Brunswick Masters of Alluding Flea Treatments Tournament.

Allison says she has a plan for tomorrow. I like her positive thinking. I have to reach down deep into the inner recesses of my brain to remember what it's like to be fourteen and that optimistic.

I feel sorry for Bandit. She needs a hug, but of course that's the last thing she wants. She's so vulnerable.

At times she stands at the garage door and scratches for minutes to be let in, but when we open the door, she flies away in a shadowy flash.

Sometimes she'll dart like a bullet into the house and dive under our bed where she can't be touched. She'll hide there until she's ready to bolt back into her sanctuary, the garage.

As I consider my timid feline, I wonder how many opportunities would have opened to me when I were younger, if I had turned the door knob?

Or, how many times did I turn away from an opportunity because I didn't recognize what I saw across the threshhold?

I wish I could communicate to Bandit like I do my students that it's okay to trust people.  Not everyone will hurt you. Make the most of your opportunities. Walk through an open door.

I hope as my students (and Bandit) age they will trust others more and walk optimistically across the threshhold of life because there are treasures waiting to be discovered on the other side of a door.
------------------------------------------------------------
Lord, Let us bravely answer the knock at the door to receive the blessings you have in store for our lives.