Keeping it Real

Some time ago, I re-read the story of the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams to my two youngest daughters. They are older now, but it sure brought back memories. It is a great story about a stuffed animal rabbit that wants so desperately to become real. 

Here’s just a short snippet:

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit. 

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’ 

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’ 

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” 

Let us pray: Loving God, we want to be real – to the people around us. We want to be loved deeply. Smooth our sharp edges and give us the courage to risk being hurt. Help us to give deeply of ourselves and to love others with all we have. And in that process may we experience love and grace abundant. Amen.