Love in Spite of

I love cats. Always have, always will. But I don't deny that they can be downright obnoxious sometimes. I didn't really think about how obnoxious my current two are until my daughter and grandson moved in. My cats yell at night. Not all night or every night, but frequently enough to be, as I said, obnoxious. It was annoying before, but now I have to worry about them waking up Sophia and Damian. And they can be pretty loud. I have no idea why they think it's necessary or acceptable to do this. Tinker has never really liked any other cat but Midget, who is now deceased. So she's hostile to Mystery, who is really a very laid-back, good-natured cat. Sometimes she'll swat at him when he jumps on the bed, which is often near my face: scary. I've actually gotten scratched before. If she's lying on or near my legs and feet, she frequently growls if I move them. One time I was lying on the couch and she was sleeping on my chest. I don't know if she had a bad dream or what, but she suddenly woke up and swatted my face. Drew blood, too. Mystery will sometimes chase Tinker, just for the fun of it, but she yells like she's being murdered. I know she's not. Mystery is too good-natured to do anything with malicious intent, even though she might deserve it. Both cats like to demand my attention in the middle of the night. That's right. They'll get on the bed when I'm trying to sleep and demand to be petted. They'll paw at me, sometimes claw at me. And Tinker meows. She's incredibly vocal. Mystery likes to sleep on a pillow, which often results in me getting a face full of fluff when I roll over. In the past, I have resorted to closing my bedroom door when I really need a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. But now that Damian and Sophia live here, I'm afraid the cats would wake them up instead if I closed the door. So I suffer through it. During the day, if I sit down, one or both of them thinks he/she needs to be on my lap. When it's both of them, then there's trouble. I have shared my lap with more than one cat before, but Tinker won't stand for that. I have nicknamed her the velcro kitty, because she tries to stick to my lap even while I'm trying to get up. And she gets very insulted that I should actually want to get up. Mystery will yell at me when I come home for lunch. He's well loved and fed (too well fed), so I really don't know what he's yelling about. It's really frustrating when I'm trying to get my lunch and he's underfoot yelling at me. For no good reason. I remember one time when he yelled for pretty well the whole hour I was home. At least it seemed like it. 
I put up with a lot from my cats. And love them still. In spite of their annoying habits, I still love them and they are very precious to me. 
Really, that's very similar to how God feels about us. In spite of our sinful, annoying, frustrating, obnoxious behaviours, He still loves us. He puts up with a lot from us because He loves us and He sees in us something worth redeeming. 
Sometimes I get sick of myself. I get frustrated, annoyed and angry with some of the things I do. There might even be times when I'm ready to give up on myself. But just like I never give up on my cats, God never gives up on me. He loves me in spite of my sinful habits. And through Jesus, He wants to change those sinful habits to make me more like Him.