I knew something was wrong when she didn’t meet me at the door.
For more than 15 years, the sound of the garage door opening brought my cat Fannie to the kitchen door to greet me, scolding me with sharp meows for having had the audacity to leave her for a few hours.
But on this day, when she didn’t meet me, I knew. I found her lying in bright sunshine on the bed, lethargic. She fought only a little as I put her in the cat carrier (she was usually 8 pounds of hiss and fury at this occurrence).
The vet explained that her kidneys were failing, and it would only get worse. He spoke what I heard in her plaintive meows. “She sounds sad.”
It was time.
I believe God allows us to love our animals so much because it helps us learn more about how He loves us. And as I fought to hold back tears amid paperwork and payments, I thought about how God feels when His saints die.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15a
He grieves, too.
And my sorrow in this matter is nothing like His grief. Nor is it the deep and profound sorrow of those who lose spouses, or children, or parents, or siblings. Human life is sacred, not merely precious, as is animal life.
And as Christians, we have the joy of knowing that beyond the sorrow is an eternity of togetherness. In the presence of the Lord, no less! And God knows He is ushering His believers into that presence and, though He shares our sorrow, He also feels joy.
So why does this loss feel so… final? Some well-respected Christian leaders say that although the Bible mentions animals in heaven, they are not our pets but new creations. Our pets, they maintain, have souls that cannot survive outside their mortal bodies.
While there is no Biblical evidence our beloved pets go to heaven, the focus should be not where the Bible is silent — on the pets or what we wish — but on what the Bible does tell us. And it tells us loudly and clearly about the character of God. One thing we see is that God loves to surprise and delight His children. So maybe those pets we love will meet us there.
But as I contemplated my loss and possible eternal separation from my sweet kitty, my mind wandered further into what that can teach me about God.
How does He feel when someone dies without first coming to know Him? That person whose soul will be lost for all eternity? The Bible tells us they are away from Him forever. It also tells us He loves them and had yearned for them to come to Him.
“God is not willing that any should perish.” 2 Peter 3:9
As I stroked Fannie for the last time, waiting for the serum to end her suffering, I prayed as I have for each of my pets: that Jesus would take them to heaven to wait for me. And, as with the others, with the next breath I asked His forgiveness for having such a thought if our pets are not to be there.
As my heart broke and my tears fell unashamedly over losing Fannie, I gained a deeper understanding of how God feels over the lost. And I was thankful even for this painful experience, because it drew me closer to Him.
Just as my heart was breaking over this cat, His heart similarly breaks hundreds, no thousands, of times a day over those who die without ever coming to Him.
I tend to look cavalierly at those who choose to turn away from God, thinking, “it’s their choice.” But I forget that there’s another side to that separation. God, Himself, feels that loss. He must go through eternity without the fellowship of those lost souls that He deeply loves.
May God’s love spur me on to find ways to show His kindness and love to others so there might, possibly, be one less lost soul for God to grieve.
