Today my cat Snowflake would not leave me alone. Nudge, nudge, nudge. She pressed her little face into my arm, my lap, my computer screen. Nudge, nudge, nudge. She loves the warmth of being near me, and as a highly relational cat, she simply wants to be with me.
I tried everything: I pushed her down. I arranged another warm spot for her with my blanket. I scooted over to make room for her where she wouldn’t bother me. It didn’t matter. Nudge, nudge, nudge.
I thought of the Holy Spirit and all those nudges to get away to spend more time with the Lord. I thought of all the ways God invites us into His presence. I thought of all the persistent nudges (sometimes through hardship, exhaustion, illness, stress, or the flip side of peace and joy) to cozy up, to enjoy the warmth of the Lord, and to sit together. I thought of the irony that just as I’m settling into work, the nudges come. They always seem like an imposition or something I don’t have time for.
But the nudges are an invitation to pause and enjoy togetherness, to relax together, to enjoy the warmth.