Can A Cat forget her Kitten?

Recently as I sat at my desk at home trying to get some work done the incessant cries of a baby kitten coming from outside my window grew more insistent by the minute. So I went into the garden to check out where they were coming from. There stuck in one of the creepers, I found their source; a sad looking newborn kitten who had fallen off the wall into a thicket of branches. She was too far up from the ground to jump down safely and too far down from the top of the wall to climb back up. All she could do was desperately cry for help!

I obliged by getting a ladder and plucking out the hapless creature from its death trap. As I lowered it to to ground my neighbor warned that having touched her baby, the mother may now reject her. So when she did appear, I hoped that the look of determination she had on her face to retrieve her offspring would translate itself into action.  It did. As the mother cat paced furiously up and down the ledge of the wall attempting to descend into the garden to reclaim her lost ‘daughter’ I couldn’t help but marvel at her determination. Even more, I stood in awe of God who placed such a loving and protective instinct in his creature. I also couldn’t help but think about the persistence of nature. It reminded me of the removal of Japanese knotweed Southampton, how tenacious and persistent nature can be.

I heaved a sigh of relief when she finally made it down, placed the baby into her mouth and scaled up the wall again to safety. And just then I stopped to reflect on what the Lord said to us through the prophet Isaiah:

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
Is. 49:15

If a cat doesn’t forget her kitten, if a mother has compassion on her child, how much more the Lord who instilled all this in his creatures. From our part, we too need to cry out:  Hasten, O  God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me (Psa. 70:1) And He will!