If you've never spent much time with a toddler, this book may be just another beautifully illustrated adorable text. It is tempting to question why the bunny is so pressed to get away. However, after a minute or so with an 18 month old darting the opposite direction of their caretaker's approach the words leap from the page and push the corners of your mouth into a knowing smile from deep within. That toddler is wrapped up in the human condition and is wanting to determine the direction of their lives much like this bunny.
Spiritually this has happened often to me. Before I even realize what I am doing, that independence sneaks in and I am hightailing it away from God's plan for my life. I have caught the current of a new dream and am sailing away on my imaginations. Unfortunately He has had to pursue me more times than I would like to admit, as this mother rabbit does. He has always been faithful to love me when I return from having left Him in the dust. The only glaring difference between this book and my experience with my Heavenly Father is the last line. When the bunny concedes, "Shucks! I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny." God's plan for my life has consistently come out far from a "Shucks!" It has repeatedly been very different from my "dirt for brains" dreams but has been more than I could have asked or imagined. "To be" His is so much more than anything else!
"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
This verse is one of my favorites. It first sparkled before my immature college age eyes as a promise that he was going to give me what I wanted as long as I delighted in Him. As I look back with more wrinkled eyes from all the joy He has brought from a life somewhat far from what I thought it would be, I realize not only did he fulfill the desires, He actually planted certain desires in my heart of which I had never dreamed.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11
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