"A shot in the arm..."

"A shot in the arm...," says Sugar.

Sugar.
My once very unwanted pet.
My 7 year old fluffy puffy Ragdoll cat.
My BFF (Best Fluffy Feline).

Sugar aka: Fluffy, Puffy, Precious, Sweetie, Friendly, Fluffa, Fluf-e-Nuf, Nuffy, Shooggie-Booggie, Boog, Shug...need I go on? She is definitely a rag-DOLL. But not so much when she arrived at our house 7 years ago.

Sugar was a surprise birthday gift to me from my family. I did not want her. at. all. We already had 2 cats and a dog (plus many past rabbits and hamsters). They also all came to our house in the same way...I did not choose to have them...any of them...my family chose them. They always got the best of the deal...they got the pet...I got the poop!

They knew I would never agree to another pet. So...by making Sugar a birthday gift to me they thought I would keep her. I vaguely remember doing this pet gifting to my father with a kitten named Goober. What goes around had come around this time...back to me :-).

I made it known...for weeks...that I did not want to keep this little pooping ball of fur. I would not pet her, hold her, feed her or even look at her. I asked for the gift receipt...I was taking her back! Kristen begged me early on to just hold her once. just once. She knew that would be all it would take to get me to want/keep this kitty. I refused to hold her and I was informed that she was 'not returnable'. Sugar was staying whether I wanted her or not. My family was informed by me that I would no longer be the zoo keeper. They were now in charge of feeding and cleaning up after THEIR pets. I was not buying food, feeding pets or scooping poop anymore! The animals were all theirs-not mine.

Sugar didn't seem to care about all that drama. She followed me everywhere hoping for that one first pat on the head. She patiently waited and waited and waited and waited. She pursued me 24/7... even in the bathroom. Where ever I was - she was.

One day her baby blue eyes caught mine...and...I did it.
It happened.

When no one was around...I petted her. The little unwanted fluffball crawled onto my lap and into my heart. For a few days, I continued to pet her when no one was looking. One day I was secretly petting her and my husband Lynn caught me in the act. He said, "What are you doing? You can't pet her...she is NOT yours!" It was then I had to 'fess up and ask for forgiveness for rejecting such a special gift.

I did want this cat. She has become a really sweet cat to me. She is definitely mine.

Fast forward 6 years...I developed asthma last year and had some allergy testing. Guess what I am allergic to? Dogs and cats! The options were to get rid of pets, to move out or to get allergy shots. Getting rid of the pets was...let's say...not received well...not happening. I offered to move out of the zoo and get my own pet-free house on a lake nearby...not happening either. Sugar stepped in and said, "A shot in the arm...do it for me...I am worth it!" For 6 months I went every week for that shot in the arm. I am now on the 5 year maintenance of 'once a month softball sized welt giving shots' in the arm.

How did all that happen?
I realized that I really did love this cat...but it really happened because...She loved me first!

What did I learn?
I will take a shot in the arm for a new BFF anytime. There is blessing in forgiveness and sometimes life gives us circumstances we do not want. But God is always there waiting for us to see his love and his best in the situation. It is always worth the cost.

"We love because HE first loved us."
1 John 4:19

What gift (circumstance) do you want to return?
Where has God shown you his best in a bad situation?

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