A Tale of Two Kitties

I’m writing spiritual reflections on nature this summer for my forthcoming book Jesus Walks. Here’s a story of my two childhood pets and the very different fates that befell them.

I had two pet cats as a child—one wild and free, the other safe, spoiled and homebound. Pierre was a rough and tumble outdoor cat who roamed the neighborhood picking fights and exploring new territory. He would hunt all day and bring his prey home at night, leaving a dead bird or pummeled mouse on the doorstep for us to admire.

I was very young and have little memory of Pierre. I only remember a photo of me holding the long haired black and white cat in my arms, and the way he disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from our lives. More on that in a minute.

Snoopy, on the other hand, was an indoor cat we brought home from the pet store as a kitten and would live to a ripe old age of 16 or 17 years. He never breathed outside air. He never experienced the thrill of the hunt. He never encountered another feline. He spent his life lying in the window getting fat and watching the world outside from a safe distance.

Snoopy was spoiled and pampered, living for the occasional cat nip or scratch behind the ears. He developed diabetes in middle age and my mom cared dutifully for him for years, giving him daily insulin shots, as he lived out his long and boring life in placid domesticity.

Meanwhile, Pierre—even his French name evokes a certain hedonistic and bohemian lifestyle—met his fate earlier in his prime. I imagine Pierre out prowling the neighborhood wearing a beret and smoking a cigar on the evening of July 23 when the so-called “superstorm” of 1987 rolled through the Twin Cities.

This historic, generational thunderstorm cell stalled over the Twin Cities area for over eight hours, producing tornadoes, thunderstorm winds of 60-80 mph, and prolonged extreme rainfall rates that led to the most significant flash-flooding ever observed in the area.

The next morning we woke up to 11 inches in the rain gauge, and a missing cat. Pierre had sailed off into the sunset (or down a storm sewer) and out of our lives forever. We still don’t know how Pierre met his end, but I like to think he found shelter with a pretty little French kitty named Céline or Désirée and they lived happily ever after feasting on little kitty baguette treats together.

Pierre’s disappearance and lack of closure was difficult for my 8-year old soul. I slowly came to accept that Pierre probably died in the storm after living a full and satisfying feline life. Looking back now at this tale of two kitties, I’m instead wondering if 17-year old Snoopy ever really lived at all?

Observing the lives of many of my own species, I ask the same question. Is the good life found in prolonged years playing it safe, staying indoors, eating and sleeping and getting fat while we watch the world go by outside our window while never leaving home?

Or is the good life found in taking some risks, leaving our comfort zone, exploring new places, meeting new people, getting some scratches and dents, and squeezing more life into less years? More importantly, are we pursuing a longer life with less purpose, or a shorter life (if need be) on mission with God?

Most of the heroes of the Bible seem like “wild cats” roaming far from home. They sailed into storms of adversity and risked their lives in service to God’s greater mission. John the Baptist and Jesus, Peter and Paul, Stephen and James—they all lived out Paul’s life motto in Acts 20:24:

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

REFLECT & DISCUSS:

What about you? Which cat do you resemble more? Are you living in order to not die? Or are you dying to really live?

Are you living a wild, free and full life like Pierre? Or are you getting fat playing it safe like Snoopy and watching your life pass you by through a glass window?