Seymour’s Rescue

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV

One of our family’s greatest blessings is a one-eyed cat named Seymour.

We inherited this tortoiseshell kitty after my brother-in-law Dean died in 2020. He found Seymour as a kitten, scared and hiding under a car. She was wounded, missing an eye and a few teeth.

While she still bears the scars of some type of abuse or accident, she’s a very different cat now. We call her the queen of the house. She is beloved.

She’s a great picture of what God does for us.

We cannot save ourselves. Like Seymour, we needed a rescue. Seymour could not bandage herself up or drive herself to the vet. Dean did that for her. In a similar fashion, we cannot earn salvation or even muster up faith on our own. By grace, God even gives us the faith to believe in Jesus.

We must accept God’s invitation. Seymour did not do anything herself, but she didn’t run away. She accepted Dean’s help. God offers the free gift of salvation to all, but some don’t accept it. Instead, they choose to go their own way.

We can never brag about our status. If Seymour could talk, she might be tempted to boast to her feline friends about her throne (an oversized bean bag) by the window. But how did she get the bean bag? The truth is, we provide all the good things in her life.

We are beloved. We may come to God, bruised and bearing scars. But He welcomes us as His children and lavishes us with love.

Lord, thank You for adopting us into Your family.

Stacy Graves