"Don't you see horse, we had it wrong, it's not love, it's loving that makes us Real."
We are commanded, not asked, to love others as ourselves. This is not to let someone off the hook, rather to guard our own hearts. Guard our hearts from bitterness and hatred. In Proverbs we are told that it is our responsibility to guard our heart. No one else can - or will - do it for us. I have found that it is possible to truly love someone who is very hurtful and not let it affect you in a negative way. Sometimes we have to do this from afar..still we can love. We have been given the grace (power) to do so. God would not ask us to do the impossible. He never commands anything unless it's for our benefit and protection. So why is it such a struggle? Why is it so difficult to let go of the bitterness and anger that becomes a cancer eating away at the core of who we are? It's painful to expel kindness to someone undeserving. At times it's terrifying to release our pain into the trusting hands of our Savior. Could it be that we don't trust His love for us? Maybe we don't trust that He will tend to our wounds? Perhaps we doubt that He cares about our pain and therefore will not proceed with justice? After all He is the God of the universe - what significance do I have? The truth is when someone hurts you (me) God sees. It breaks His heart. He will take care of those that oppress you. You (I) don't have too. We just need to love them like Jesus.
"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?"
"Sometimes, but when you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"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."
The rabbit sighed. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.
The Velveteen Rabbit is one of my favorite stories. I've read it to my children countless times. But I think I love the movie even more. It tells of two toys that desperately wanted to become Real. They wanted freedom to become something they would never be on their own. Isn't that what we all want? In each of our hearts God has placed a desire for more. To live for a purpose bigger than ourselves and we will not be satisfied until we have it. Empty. Searching. Driven. But like the toys in the story we chase after this desire in the wrong way much of the time. In the end we reap the consequences of our choices. The toys never achieved their goal...they missed the point. In their quest to be free... to become 'Real' by being loved enough, they forgot the essence of what a Real beating heart would be...to love. Blinded by their own selfish ambition...trapped in a prison they made for themselves they stayed in the same pathetic state. Rabbit was the only one that became Real because he gave his life for his friend. He loved despite the cost. So, the next time the sisters of bitterness and unforgivness come knocking with temptation, remember that a hardened heart is not alive. Only one that beats with love for others is living! You'll never be set free chasing after selfish desires....so what will you choose? When we obey the command to love others as ourselves regardless of our cost... the one who IS love will set the captives free. Awesome!
He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.
Until then...
Jessie
Excerpts taken from the Velveteen Rabbit
Published by The Creative Company and American Education Publishing
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