"...I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." Jeremiah 31:3
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| Surprise visitor in my strawberries |
The dark rabbit appeared sometime in the spring. Several times I caught a glimpse of her and thought she was a neighbor’s cat.
One day, seeing it nibbling in my strawberry patch, I looked through my binoculars to see if that cat really was eating my plants. There sat a luscious brown—almost black—rabbit!
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| tentative rabbit |
No wonder we weren’t getting any strawberries!
But it was so beautiful; I went out with my camera to capture some images. She—who knows if it’s a ‘she’ or ‘he’—ran a safe distance, then stopped.
As the days passed, she seemed to come out of hiding when I was in the garden, as if she liked being close to someone. One day she hopped over and smelled my shovel, then my feet.
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| patient rabbit with kids |
At daybreak she meets me, except the day after four grandkids followed her all over the garden. She didn’t show herself for a few days then. After our Chihuahua
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| Lilah, our Chihuahua |
Once in a while, for no known reason, she’s absent. I miss her presence, her ‘drunken sailor’ hopping over to where I’m working. After I’ve finished for the day, I keep looking out the back door, wondering if she’s come late.
As I realized how much I look forward to seeing her each day, how disappointed I am to have a sliced apple but no rabbit to eat her share, I sucked in a deep breath of understanding.
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| Rabbit keeping me company |
Does God delight when I move closer to Him? Does He miss me when I don’t come to sit in His presence? Has He prepared something for me and I’m not available to share it with Him?
Does God, with all His wisdom, love, fore-knowing, and plans for good, long for me with intensity I can’t even comprehend?
Lord God, thank You for the marvelous rabbit. Thank You for the gift of a glimpse of Your longing for me. Amen
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Oh my! Thank you, Sheila, for reminding me how much a bunny rabbit I am with my Holy Father. What a blessing to inch a little closer into the sweet presence of our loving Father through your words.
ReplyDeleteThis is really precious, Shelia. I love how you took something that started out as an annoyance and turned it into a revelation of God's love.
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