After 14 years of life my sister's cat died this week. Mmmm ok well... that's too bad but it had a long life - you may think. But if I told you that my sister never had children, that this wee cat was like her baby, that she herself was terminally ill and the death of this cat underscored the inevitability of her prognosis would it change your initial response? In a world where we are bombarded with horrible news stories it's easy to become desensitized to the anguish of those right under our noses.

The problem is we measure the troubles of another person against how we'd feel and we categorize levels of pain. But the thing is pain can't really be graded the loss of a cat may be just as significant as the loss of a child. We need to exercise caution when confronted with another person's pain a throw away comment can add to the fall out they're already feeling. The human heart is indeed fragile.

When we're in a place of deep hurt we look for someone else to empathize and share our feelings with. As a mum when my child hurt themselves I held them and cuddled them and shared in the pain with them... Jesus longs to do the same for each one of His children He will never dismiss the issues on your heart, He understands, He cares and He will faithfully stay around and help you if you'll let Him.

Have a good week... Love Ruth x

(oh... and by the way I'm sure there are pets in Heaven)