Day 2: The Velveteen Rabbit

Today’s pictures are interesting...

Moving





Driving down I-4, Some guy moving a refrigerator, the Freezer door is open, and there is a gallon tub of Ice cream sitting in it. If that isn't Polk County, I don't know what is.

The Worlds Largest McDonalds.


I haven’t been there in years, My sister and I Affectionately call it the worlds worst McDonald's.
I will have to try it again.

I cannot seem to get the man and woman who were at church last night. When I first saw her I though she was Mary Nelson, a lady that my mother’s church had helped in the past.
I hope they are doing well.

I don’t know why, but all of this has reminded me of my favorite Childhood story.
Many of you who know me really well, know that I carry around a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit in my purse,. I found a small bookmark of my favorite part of the story in my sister's bible yesterday. (Thanks Fatima!) and I thought that I would share about it. I believe that this story is the ultimate description of love and being a real person and found in the pages therein. Like the boy in the story, God is the only one who can make us real. I was reminded last night of how God looks beyond our outward appearance, to see the true beauty that is us.

“The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and wpould never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it. "What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" "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." "I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always." The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. 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 Rabbit (like Me) wishes that I could become “real” with out uncomfortable things happening, but I try and remember
"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." "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

I would like to note, that unlike the boy in the story, God will never be forced to throw us out. He will love us no matter what.

I know that this has been all over the place, but it all makes sense to me, and I try to use this principal whenever I can.
My mom bought me this little ornament yesterday. When I first saw it, I put it back. One of the little birds eyes was missing. After putting it back I stood there for a long time. Finally I picked it back up and decided that I wanted it. After examining it a second time, I decide that I really would pick out another one that was worth buying. As I put it back, the birds other eye preceded to fall off. It was in that moment that I knew I had to buy it. It reminded me that at one time, not so long ago, I wouldn’t be “bought” because I was not whole or perfect. Jesus Bought me as I was, not because I had something to give, but because he thought I was worth it.
Never doubt a persons worth according to they’re look or circumstance.