My Soul Sings of Wellness

“A Thanksgiving Story”

Kitty, sitting on a neighbor’s wall with her back to her friend Simon, asks him why humans make such a fuss over the word, “Thank you, as if it contained magic.” Looking across the street at the birds gathering on the lawn, “I mean I get the part on why they hunt and eat a big bird, but a whole day just to celebrate the kill?” Then turning directly to face him, “…but why all the thank you talk?” Simon looked at Kitty with raised eyes then opened his mouth and told her a story…

Two friends with poking sticks in hand sort thru a trash pile next to the road between Galilee and Samaria. Some items left for the destitute and some just trash. Both forced to live on the outskirts of town by Mosaic Law for they have the ashen, ulcerated skin of leprosy.

“I found something,” Levi shouts to his friend Ruben. Holding up a bag of promise, Levi looks inside and views a treasure. A bag of fresh apricots and figs. “Ruben, come and see the blessing we have been given. Fresh food.” Ruben, leery of the offer but hopeful takes the apricot that Levi has offered him and bites into it. Levi, with contentment resting on his face, says, “Is this not truly a blessing from God?”

Ruben savors the fresh taste. It’s been longer than he can remember since he last ate anything that wasn’t dirty and discarded.

“Thank you, Lord, for this feast you have given to us,” Levi exclaims with hands extended into the air.

Ruben frowns at his friend, then walks away shaking his head. As he leaves, several other men stopped their scraping through the heap and came to see the fresh fruit.

“Here my Friends,” offers Levi. “Enjoy what God has provided for us.”

Each man in turn enjoyed the tasty treat. “Levi, thank you for sharing with us, but if I am to thank God it would be that He would remember us, visit us here, and heal us. Don’t just remember me with apricots and figs but with deliverance from this curse.”

Levi returned to sorting through the trash heap. Encouraged despite his disease. He thinks of his family who lived in the center of town. Their home which was always full of the rich smell of leeks and garlic cooking. His father, a stone mason, who worked hard to apprentice him and his brothers in the family craft and business. Sarah, his younger sister, who stayed close to their mother weaving and baking bread with the added task of taking care of his kitten Tavia.

At night when the house was quiet, Tavia would sneak into Levi’s bed and walk the length of his body up to his face. “Meow,” then cuddle down into the side of his body as if to burrow and begin to purr. Her soft, warm furry body gave Levi great comfort as he would drift back to sleep.

Even though a Samaritan by birth, Levi had studied diligently to learn Hebrew waiting for the day he would be recognized as a man and son of the commandment (later to be known as bar mitzvah.) Often rejected by the other Jewish boys, he didn’t care. This hostility dated back to the time of the fall of Israel and the separation of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The offenses on both sides were never forgotten nor forgiven. Yet, He had loved memorizing the Words of the prophets and Psalms that remind him how good and great God is.

Yet, as always, he remembers what he has tried to forget. The day he woke up with a white rash on his right arm. His father took him to the priest for prayer, but the priest immediately banished him as a leper. Never even getting to say goodbye to his mother, sister, and brothers. His kitten Tavia meowed a mournful sigh. He watched his father cry as he was wretched from him.

As Levi continues prodding his stick through the piles of rubbish, he looks up and sees on the road in front of him several men walking towards Jerusalem. Not many Jewish men traveled this road because it touched the Samaritan boarder. But the man in the middle caught his eye. He walked with a slow grace about him. His face fixed in listening to his companions. He wasn’t overly tall, but he seemed to stand above them. There was something compelling about this stranger.

A feeling inside of him pushed the question, “Could this be the man he had heard so much about? Jesus, the one who heals people…lepers like himself.”

Levi lifted his voice and hands and called out to the man. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” His friends heard Levi and came over and joined him in calling out to Jesus for word had spread fast about this new, hopeful man of healing. They stood at a distance but sent their voices forward as loud as they would reach.

Jesus stopped and set his eyes on the men calling out to him. His voice loud and clear answered back. “Go show yourselves to the priests.” The diseased men looked at each other and then back at Jesus.

“Let’s go. We have nothing to lose.” And as they moved forward on the road something wonderful happened. First Ruben raised his arms because they felt warm and tingling.

Gone was the white cracked rash of leprosy replaced by fresh, real skin. He checked his friends, and they too were changed. Levi also stopped and looked at his friends and his own arms and legs. He dropped to his knees and raised his hands to say thank you to God.

“Come on, Levi. There will be plenty of time to thank God when we get to the temple.”

“No, I must thank God now.” So, he turned around and headed back to find Jesus.

“Where are you going,” his friends cried out. The temple is this way.

“True. But the God who healed me is this way.”

“Leave him,” said Ruben. “He is always doing these crazy things. He doesn’t know the Jewish Law like we do.”

As Levi found Jesus, he fell on his face in front of Him kneelling at His feet. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are the Lord God.” He could not stop praising Him. Jesus reached out and touched his shoulder and Levi looked up. “Were there not ten of you healed? Where are the other nine? Jesus smiled at him. “Are there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” Jesus pulled him to his feet and hugged him.

“Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you well.” So, Levi went to the priest to be proclaimed clean, and then he went to find his family.

As he approached his family house, a young woman was out front beating a rug and did not see him. He opened the gate, and she looked up. Unable to speak, she began to cry.

“Sarah, is that you? It is I, Levi, your brother come home. Healed by God himself.”

From behind Sarah, an adult cat appeared and approached Levi. Rubbing his head against Levi’s leg and purring. Levi scooped up the cat in his arms. “Tavia, you’re still alive.” He held the cat close to him. Sarah, encouraged now that it was her brother, went to him. Her arms open to embrace.

Levi grabbed her with his other arm and hand and kissed her forehead. “Is it really you? You are a grown woman now. Levi understood now the words of Jesus and the power of thanksgiving.

“Go your way, your faith has made you well.” Not only was he healed, but his soul was also strengthened and made well. By the power of thanksgiving. By the act of gratitude and faith that lead him back to Jesus.

Kitty stretched her legs and stood. “That was a good story, my friend.”

“It took faith for Levi to return to Jesus. It takes gratitude for us to turn back and thank others, but when we do we receive a greater blessing. We receive a healing and power that reinforces our soul and makes it strong and confident Gratitude brings a wellness for our souls beyond the healing of our body.”

“ I like that. Thank you, Simon. Kitty extended her head. Me’ll.”

“Me’ll?’ What is that?”

“Why, instead of meow?” Kitty grinned. “I will now say me’ll or me well. “

We at the Kitty Chronicle want to stop and say thank you to each of you for reading our stories and supporting Kitty in her adventures. For in saying thank you to you we wish to convey health and favor and healing and most of all wellness.