Friday, June 1, 2012

I'm a bunny. You're a bunny too.

Baby rabbit

What I love so much about my walks to school with the boy and girl is that there is always an opportunity to learn about the amazing wonder of nature that surrounds us. We also use that time to pray and worship, being reminded to give thanks for the numerous things we have.

This morning on our walk we saw a large rabbit chasing a little bunny which ultimately ran across the street to get away.  I knew what was happening and my immediate reaction was to make light of it by giving them voices in order to explain to our children the process in nature when babies are weaned.

Momma rabbit - "You're done. Get out!"

baby bunny - "okayyyyyyyy!"


Harsh, I know...and very real. If the baby rabbits are not pushed out and away from their nest, the adult male may kill them.  The little ones have to find their new feeding areas away from the claimed territories and hope to survive the ready predators.

But look at what my girl did.

"Mommy, I don't think you're right. I don't think that is what she is doing at all."

"Really? What then?"


"I think she wants her baby bunny to explore this whole great big world. She knows it will be scary but she is still telling the baby to go. She is excited for him but still loves him. That's why she went all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. She wanted to make sure her baby was ok to cross the street."

Now isn't that something?  That is the perspective of a child who is confident in the knowledge that someone cares and loves her very much.  So why is it that I immediately made a negative spin on the very same incident the three of us observed?  It is plainly clear that the end result was the same -- mommy rabbit was sending off baby bunny.

Aren't I also a person who claims to know that I'm cared for and loved very much? Was I somehow projecting how I think God may feel about me? Maybe. Maybe not. One thing I know for sure is that Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 18:17)

Perhaps our problem as adults is not that we believe God doesn't love us, it's that we believe God doesn't want us. We turn our backs and refuse to enter into a relationship where all He wants is the best for us -- no matter what that might look like to the rest of the world looking on.  Sometimes He is simply going to the edge of the sidewalk and telling us we will be ok...we just have to step out in faith and cross that street.

Encourage some"bunny" today. You never know your words may be exactly what they need to hear.

Blessings for your day,

1 comment:

  1. You do your share of encouraging this bunny, in ways you'll never know. :)

    I didn't know this about bunnies! LOVE that little missy of yours. :)

    ReplyDelete

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