Chatty Cathy

There was this doll, in the 1960’s I think, called Chatty Cathy. Either my sister or I must have had her, because I remember vaguely her being a part of our lives. She chatted…I don’t know what the heck she said…but to young children, I’m certain it was riveting. This was the “high tech” toy in that era. I’ve been thinking a lot about “Cathy” lately…

Chatty Cathy and her words, brought endless hours of entertainment to us as children. She didn’t say THAT much which means it repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated…you get the point. But these same, repetitious statements, were so important to us as youngsters. We felt we were interacting and it made the “playtime” seem so much more authentic.

Sometimes I wonder if God looks at me like some sort of “Chatty Cathy” because I can go on and on and on about the same things I was JUST talking to Him a day, week, month, even year ago. Thankfully, I know this is just the enemy trying to defeat me. God speaks to me on a fairly regular basis, and I know he not only enjoys our “chats”, He values them and looks forward to them. Sometimes He’ll even get me up really early in the morning to talk.

There are times when I immediately understand what He’s trying to teach me and even better, I look forward to the resulting journey. There are other times when I have NO clue what He’s talking about or where it came from, these are the times I enter “Chatty Cathy” mode. These are times our talks feel one-sided and either He or I do all the talking (usually me) while the other sits in silence. These are the times I say, as a child would to a Father, “Did you hear what I just said?” Of course, I KNOW God hears my every word. He “hangs on my every word”.

When I allow God the center stage and He speaks in my silence I ponder…inhale…exhale…trying to discern what should be said in response, if anything or what exactly He’s trying to tell me. I’m sure sometimes I must have that same painted, glazed look on my face that “Chatty Cathy” has….cute, but clueless! Sometimes God asks me: “Did you hear what I just said?” Of course, I usually have NO IDEA what He just said because I was off in another land “all about me!”

I thank God that He is willing to explain things to me over and over and over again; both verbally and nonverbally. He shows me through my life and the life of people I interact with, so many lessons on life. God ‘speaks’ to me and even confirms things with me sometimes subtly and sometimes direct and “in my face”. Whenever I’m entering the “Chatty Cathy” phase, I thank God that he hears beyond the repetition and He never tires of our “engaging” and authentic conversations.

Side note: Do you ever write something and ponder it and ponder it and ponder it and think… "this is incomplete!”

That is how I felt about this story…I shared that with my wonderful husband after I read this entry and this was his response: “that’s good I like it.”

I replied: “It just feels incomplete to me.”

He replied: “Maybe you should sleep on it.”

I retorted: “I’ve slept on it for a week now.”

He replied: “Okay, maybe the sleeping is over!”

I laugh and laugh and laugh as I post this somehow, incomplete post.

I hope it at least makes you laugh as you remember “Chatty Cathy!” Unless of course you’re under 34ish and had all those other dolls that spoke volumes and peed and ate and made “Cathy” seem somehow archaic…well you get the point!