For this week’s readings, I’ve chosen quotes from some of my favorite children’s books, in honor of this week’s lectionary scripture where Jesus tells his disciples that children are at the heart of the Kingdom of God.
-Jim Marsh, Bread of Life
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams Bianco, is a story about a stuffed bunny who yearns to be “real”. It’s a book that transformed my thinking about the difference between a true and false self.
“’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.’”
-Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit
