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March 09, 2005
The Runaway Bunny
There have been times in my life when God is so real to me and times when he seems so distant. I know that my circumstances don't change who God is, he is always the same, always pursuing my heart. You know "promises" you've made to God, like I promise to never do such and such sin again? And then you do it again, most likely within the next 30 minutes of promising? And yet God forgives over and over again. He doesn't tire of pursuing me because I'm his child. No matter where I try to run (whether I'm aware of the fact that I'm running or not) he will find me.
I was struck by this truth this morning while reading The Runaway Bunny to Caleb. If you haven't read this story, you must! In fact, let me include some lines from the story.
"I am running away." "If you run away," said his mother, "I will run after you. For you are my little bunny." "If you run after me," said the little bunny, "I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you." "If you become a fish in a trout stream," said his mother, "I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you"
The little bunny goes on to say he'll become a rock, then the mama becomes a mountain climber. Then the bunny is a crocus in a hidden garden and the mama becomes a gardener to find him. The little bunny decides to become a bird and fly away from his mama, her reply, "If you become a bird and fly away from me, I will be a tree that you come home to." Then the bunny becomes a sailboat and the mother says "I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go." He goes to the circus, then finally decides to be a little boy and sees that its no use in running away because his mama will always come for him.
The mama isn't trying to hunt the bunny down to punish him, she just wants to be with him because, as she says, he's her little bunny. This is such a great picture of what God is for us. His pursuit of us in unrelenting. I can tend to see this pursuit in a punishing kind of way, but its because he truly loves me that he runs after me.
I often get distracted, forget to pray, forget to give thanks and read his word. Yet when I'm off in my distraction, God comes to where I am. He reminds me when I'm far off that he's there fishing for me, climbing to where I am, finding me, being a place I can come home to, guiding me where he wants me to go, and simply catching me in his arms and hugging me. There is no place I can go that he will not be with me. Through the hard places and those filled with comfort, nothing can ever change the fact that I'm his child and that he just wants to be with me. I need to remember this and decide like the little bunny in the story, its no use running after false things to fill me, instead I just need to "stay home" in Jesus, and run to him first. I can't look to this world to help define who I am, I only need to look to him.
I'm so thankful for finding his grace this morning in this story. My heart needs to know his unending love for me and that it isn't based on what I do or don't do, but on what Jesus has already done for me.
Posted by michellew at 12:39 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
March 04, 2005
Baby proofing
As Caleb gets more mobile and closer each day to crawling, we've been thinking about baby proofing the house. I'm wanting to get started on that this weekend. Since I've never done this before, I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm sure there are sites out there if I googled "baby proofing house" but I'd like your advice, if you have any to give. We have some of those outlet covers which we need to put into place. A question we have about those is that we have outlets on the FLOOR! The outlets are dark brown in color and the floor is brown so they kind of blend in. If we put a bright white outlet cover on it, won't it just attract Caleb to it? Maybe I should color the cover with a marker.
Also I've thought of getting those drawer closers, is that what they are called? You know the things you put on kitchen and bathroom drawers so the baby can't open them? Are those necessary? Also we have a lot of floor lamps, but we need the lighting they give. Is that too dangerous to leave them? I don't want to be too hyper about this stuff, but also wanting to keep Caleb safe. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by michellew at 09:57 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack