Becoming Real: 40 Days with the Velveteen Rabbit

Day 38 – Maundy Thursday – 1st April2010

To Read: 

And she kissed the little Rabbit again and put him down on the grass.

“Run and play, little Rabbit!” she said.

But the little Rabbit sat quite still for a moment and never moved.  For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him he suddenly remembered about his hind legs, and he didn’t want them to see that he was made all in one piece.  He did not know that when the Fairy kissed him that last time she had changed him altogether.  And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn’t tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it.

from The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams

To Reflect:

Sometimes we need to imagine what the future will be like – or else we become stuck in our past.  The fairy may kiss us goodbye and tell us to ‘run and play’ but it is easy slip back into our old habits and not move.  If we do not believe that God has made us ‘really real’, we may find that we are stuck in one place unable to move.   It is too easy to remember that we were made ‘all in one piece’ and become embarrassed and afraid to join in the dance with those around us.

When this happens to us it diminishes our own journey and makes the church poorer.  The longer we hold ourselves back from dancing with our new playfellows the longer we will find ourselves wondering if we are ‘really real’.

What next step is God calling you to take on the road to freedom, a freedom won at great expense on the Cross this week?  What is preventing you from taking that step?  Embarrassment?  Shyness? Fear of failure?

In the quiet of the next few days lay before God your hopes and dreams and allow God to ‘tickle your nose’.  Then wait for the surprise which comes with your scratching of that same itch.

To Pray:

Loving Provider,
you gather me in this upper room with your son,
to be fed by your love.
At that supper, Jesus told us to “love one another”
and I know that is the heart of his gift,his sacrifice for me.
I ask that I might find the source of my own heart,
the meaning for my own life,in that Eucharist.
Guide me to the fullness of your love and life.

© Andrew Dotchin – 2018