A story of hope.
A couple of weeks ago I got to spend some time in the Free State (a province of South Africa). It was myself and 8 others counselors who spent some glorious days with 143 teenage girls. Among us were also the camp directors and camp coordinators.
The night before we left camp, our director pulled us in around the square table to reflect on the day. As we were about to head back to our rooms for sleep he asked if he could read something to us. He pulled out the book, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco, turned to a specific page and began reading;
“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.”
As he read through I became emotional, but also I immediately felt encouraged. After a week of continuous adventure, joy, and complete fullness of the Lord I was also left with complete exhaustion.
I took this conversation as an example to my faith in the Lord. A handful of times I have thought to myself, “is God really real?” These thoughts may have come with specific events that have happened in my life.
But as the days, months and years have come and gone I have allowed myself to grow deeper in intimacy with the Lord. I have learned that Jesus doesn’t want us to come to Him in just our time of need. How fun it is to ask him if I would like a certain kind of ice cream at the shop, to have His presence as I’m calligraphing or even when playing a game. Inviting Him into my every second, minute and hour of the day.
Even though my walk with the Lord is magnificent most days, some days it hurts. Just like in the story says, “when you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.” Like the Skin Horse said, “It can hurt.” But we also get to experience genuine intimacy, authentic relationships and beautiful self-transformation. We learn the risk is worth the rewards. Scripture tell us in John 16:33; you will have trouble. But take heart! For He has overcome the world.
As my heart has been broken in many ways (some big, some small) the Lord continues to heal it. When I live for and REALLY love the Lord, then He becomes really real. I pray this story encourages you.
Much love.
