Being Real

I was making a keepsake book week before last, which took me on a quest for quotes to put in it. I found all kinds of neat sayings and quotes in various places in my house and ran across the following excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit, which you probably know is a beloved children's classic. I found this on a page of various quotations about marriage, believe it or not, and when I think about it, it does apply. But then I believe that it would also apply to parenthood and friendship. See what you think. This was a conversation which took place in the nursery between Rabbit and Skin Horse. You may know that Skin Horse was the oldest resident in the nursery and his age and experience had made him very wise. I once heard a pastor read this same excerpt during a sermon to mothers, and when he finished, my eyes were dripping with tears. The pastor himself was choking back tears as he read it to the moms in his congregation.

"What is Real? asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day.

"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 Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen 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."
-The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams

Please read this precious little story to your children and grandchildren. And remember: be real.