INBORN INSTINCTIVENESS
Awhile back we were given a little “outside” cat. We didn’t know she was already pregnant and soon we had four more kittens to care for! It was amazing to watch “Shadow” mother her kittens. She gave herself to them as they contentedly nursed from her day and night. She didn’t resent that she was “stuck” with these kittens and couldn’t go on her usual haunts and adventures.
She instinctively mothered. And she is only an animal. I think of some women (not animals, but precious human beings made in the IMAGE OF GOD) who give birth to a baby and yet soon leave it for someone else to feed and care for. An animal wouldn’t do this. How have we become so brainwashed?
Shadow continued to feed her babies for many months until they were as big as her, sleek and fat. And now she has had kittens again! Is she upset? No. Once again she contentedly and intently mothers four new kittens. We put her outside to go to the bathroom (although an outside cat, it’s winter time and we allow her in while she nurses her kittens) and she is back as quickly as possible to be with her kittens, letting them nurse as often and as much as they want.
The Bible also questions those who do not embrace their instinctive maternalness:
Lamentations 4:3: “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give su.ck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.”
Job 39:13-16: “The ostrich . . . which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is vain without fear; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.”
Isaiah 49:15: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?”
Surely we who are made in the image of God should embrace the inherent maternalness God has put within us.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
P.S. A picture of Shadow with her first set of kittens. They are now bigger and can be outside.
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