Streams of Mercy

If you truly know me, you know my love of “all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small.” In the mail last week, I received requests to “Save the Honeybees”, “Save the Dolphins”, “Save the Turtles”, and “Save the Monarchs.” On my laundry room door, I’ve taped a variety of stickers – “I Love Rivers,” “Green Peace”, “Make America Green Again” and “There’s No Excuse for Animal Abuse.” It seems the word has gotten around!

“All things grow with love,” is one of the truths I hold in my heart as I journey through this life. And so it was with Jackson. When new folks move into a neighborhood, the stray cats always have a chance to find a home. And so it was with Jackson. About five years ago a black and white cat was on my doorstep. He had scars on his head, his neck was held at an angle most of the time and he had more whiskers that any one cat needed! He always seemed to turn his head a bit to look at me, so I wondered if one of those old injuries damaged his vision. He was very heavy and muscular for a cat, and the vet said he was like a dog in a cat suit! I learned from folks in the neighborhood that he’d lived from place to place and was “trouble,” but I made the decision to test my truth that “all things grow with love.”

In the beginning, Jackson watched from the edge of a stream near the forest. One day he ventured to the steps. When I would sit there to pet him, he would nip at me and eye me suspiciously, and he was mean to the other cats. I used to sing the little song I would have my first graders sing when they weren’t getting along with each – “Why Can’t We Be Friends!”, but it didn’t seem to help. As time passed, he made friends with the other cats and they were family for each other. In time, he would come on the porch. As more time passed he came into the house. In his last months, he would wait until I was asleep, and then hop up to sleep on the foot of my bed.

Jackson always seemed grateful for the home he found with me – sitting beside me on the couch and sitting beside me as I worked at the computer in my little office in the manse. If I didn’t notice him, he would reach out gently with one little paw and pat my leg or reach up and touch my cheek if sitting beside me. If I was coughing a little in the night, I would wake up with him looking me right in the eye.

Last Thursday was such a beautiful day – warm and sunny, and the cats were enjoying the sunshine. Out of nowhere, three large white dogs appeared in the back yard and came up on the porch after the cats. Jackson was out on the front steps, and they must have gotten to him first. I was able to chase them away, but the damage was done. Jackson was gone. A neighbor boy helped me bury him under the longleaf pines at the edge of the driveway. A little stone marker tells it all: “Jackson, Best Meanest Cat in Jackson Springs: All Things Grow With Love.”

A Norse Legend tells the story of “Rainbow Bridge,” a place where animals go when they die, and wait for their masters, and when they come, together they cross the rainbow bridge into new life together. Whether this is true or not, I can’t say just yet, but I sure do hope so. I am “more” because an old cat came into my life and loved me. “All things grow with love” works for people too.

Elizabeth