Lessons from Walter

The following piece about our cat Walter was featured this week on The Welcome Table Blog, a wonderful site that offers a weekly devotional with questions for adults and children to discuss around the table. Visit their page for the full devotional!

True love shows itself not in how it is received, but in our willingness to give it away. 

Those who are difficult to love, are difficult to love because they have gone through difficult things which have made them the way they are. What you need to do is to forgive, what they need is your love.
― Jeanette Coron

Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world.
― Martin Luther King, Jr.

Matthew 5:43-45, The Message
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.” 

My husband and I have a cat named Walter who wandered up to our yard about five years ago and decided to stay. Walter is black and white, medium-sized, and has yellow eyes. His hair is dirty and matted and his left ear has some chunks missing from it. We can tell he has led a rough life.

Every morning my husband or I bring him food mixed with treats and fill his bowl with fresh water. He sleeps on a comfy cushion on the rocking chair on our porch, where he is sheltered from rain. On pretty days he likes to lie in the pine straw in front of the house or hide out in the daylilies.

In appreciation for the good life we have given him, Walter responds by hissing at us and sometimes swiping at our hands with his sharp claws when we are feeding him. I’ve never held him in my lap or cuddled him. I’ve only touched the top of his head once.

Despite Walter’s lack of warmth towards us, he is very much our cat. We worry about him when he decides to spend a few days visiting the neighbors across the field or perhaps dropping in on the lady cats in the area. “He’s dead I guess,” Keith will say when we haven’t seen him in a while. Then the next morning Walter will be sitting in the rocking chair, ears perked up for us to come out with his breakfast. 

“Where have you been, Walter?” we ask as we drop his cup of food into his bowl. “Hiss,” responds Walter, as if to say, “What took you so long with breakfast this morning?”

We have had other cats that lived in our house, slept on our bed and were companions to us. We loved them and grieved when they died. Having a cat like Walter that we care for but who does not show us love back has been a different experience. 

Walter reminds me of the people in our lives who can sometimes be hard to get along with. One of the most difficult instructions that Jesus gave us was to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This sounds nice in theory, but I find it very hard to put into practice. I’m happy to do a kind deed for someone who thanks me and makes me feel good about myself. But what if I do something caring and I don’t get a thank you, or worse, the person is rude or appears ungrateful? How do I feel then?

My inclination is to withhold my generosity. But I have learned from Walter to take what he is able to give back, however small. Some people, and cats, don’t know how to show their thanks.

Jesus tells us that when we are loving towards those who persecute us, we are acting as God’s children. The Message translates this to say we are working out of our true selves, our God-created selves. I need to be more aware of ways I can show love to those who may not respond lovingly back — maybe they are working through addiction or wrestling with something difficult, or maybe they just believe and think differently than I do. When I reach out with no expectation of receiving love back, I am living as a true child of God.

Walter has made progress around us. He no longer hides when we come to feed him and doesn’t run away if I walk by. On some level he trusts us, knowing that we are the source of that wonderful cat food and that we have never hurt him. 

For a cat who has spent his whole life foraging for his next meal, having a regular food bowl has been new. Even if he doesn’t respond with loving purrs, I believe that somewhere in his cat heart he appreciates my husband and me. Maybe hisses are Walter’s love language, the only way he knows to say thank-you.

Sometimes, the rewards of extending love unconditionally come slowly, but they can be found. Through Walter I have learned the gratification of giving to someone just because they need it. When he shows up on our porch looking like he has had a rough night, I feel content to see him devour his food and settle in for a nap on the rocking chair. And that’s enough.


Maybe you have someone in your life who you feel is distant, or unreceptive to love. Perform a quiet act of kindness for them without expecting any recognition — like leaving a note of encouragement, a small treat, or helping them with something they’d never expect.

Each day, jot down one moment when you offered grace, patience, or compassion to someone who didn’t expect it. At the end of the week, reflect on what that practice has opened up in you, even if it didn’t change the other person.


For a printable version of today’s reflection Click Here!

Blessing

Lord,
Teach me to love without conditions, to give without expecting, and to serve even when I am met with silence or resistance. Help me see others through Your eyes — with compassion, patience, and grace.
Amen.