Baxter and I have known each other for many years. I got him as a four month old kitten, and we have been together ever since. After all those years, we begin to assume things about each other. We know our daily routines, our personal quirks, and our signals for feeling happy, down or upset. Good friends and family rub off on each other, and many aspects of how we live together become second nature in the relationships.
While this familiarity is a good thing to make people feel comfortable and close to each other, it does have a down side. The other day, Baxter surprised me. When I was home for lunch, he jumped on my chair at the table as soon as I got up to clear the dishes. When I returned for a final morsel, he wasn’t about to move off of my chair. So I got another one for myself and moved the one he confiscated next to me. I think he was playing this game in hopes of getting something to eat off my plate. Since he was persistent about sitting next to me and since I was persistent about not feeding him any of my food, we were at a stalemate. Weakening, I decided to place one piece of kibble on the edge of the table for him. To my surprise, he didn’t gobble it up then and there.
Instead, Baxter took it in his paw and placed the morsel in his mouth, like a child placing a piece of candy in its mouth with its tiny hand. I thought I knew everything about this cat’s ways, but he surprised me with this new antic.
Sometimes we do this to each other, and God does this to us. We think we know everything about another person, their habits, their likes and dislikes, their manner and style, and then they surprise us. They do or say something we never expected. They disclose a side of themselves we have never seen. They have a trick up their sleeve we never saw coming. These surprises may startle us at first, but on second thought, they will hopefully excite and encourage us. There is always something new to learn about another person. There is more to this familiar face than I first thought. Surprises keep our relationships interesting and lively. If we pigeonhole others and keep them confined to our comfortable routines, we will never grow in our relationship with them. Each encounter is the same—the same topics, the same interactions, the same routines. Our life together becomes gray with nothing standing out to look forward to, to cherish in our memories, to hope for again.
Our God is a God of surprises to challenge and enrich our lives. Moses and the prophets didn’t expect to do and say what they did. But they responded to God’s unexpected call in their lives and were instruments of His salvation. No one expected the Messiah they got in Jesus, but His death and resurrection proved to be the salvation of the world. We don’t know what lies in store for us from God or from His messengers in our lives. We discover unknown talents and abilities when new opportunities arise for us to respond. They surprise us, but they also broaden and deepen how God is working with us through our lives.
Picking up a piece of kibble in his paw made me look at Baxter in a whole new light. There is more to the guy than a lazy, old cat. He is more ingenious and spunky than I thought. God sees this side in us as well. Let Him surprise you, and you may discover good and exciting things about yourself and others you never knew were there.
