A New Lesson From Merlin the Cat

This morning I watch as the Robin builds her nest in the Weeping Cherry. It's the strangest thing; she moves closer and closer to the window where my cat, Merlin, watches her.

A nest by a cat! Imagine!

The Robin taunts this cat. Clearly, she knows that the enemy sits restrained by the window screen. Why else would she foolishly build so near what would destroy her and her family? Why?

As I watch her deliberate building, that beady bird eye staring right at Merlin, I realize how wise and strategic she is.

With the cat there beside her nest, other predators like snakes and squirrels flee. Merlin isn't the enemy after all. Because of that screen, Merlin turns from enemy to guardian, from danger to delight.

I think of how this thing in my life that seems against me is exactly what God intends for good and protection (Genesis 50:20). I think, too, of how the psalmist writes in Psalm 23 how God "prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies." Blessing, protection, and good--all in (and not just in spite of, perhaps because of) the presence of my enemies in whatever form--physical, emotional, spiritual.

I have nothing to fear. I'm the Robin building next to a caged and restrained Enemy who God subverts and employs to aid the good.