@HomewithDean - Homily 10/23

This year, this month, my beautiful wife and my very best friend has had a milestone birthday. Turning into a new decade. And we’ve been celebrating it all month long with a series of intimate meals with family and friends. I’ve been thrilled to set it all up because in those moments the people Tina loves the most have been able to express to her just what she means to them, which is a lot, and she deserves every bit of their praise and more. But as I’ve been working behind the scenes on all this I realized that I had yet to share my own special thought.<br /><br />So, Tina, here goes. I’ll try to get through this without blubbering …<br /><br />The Velveteen Rabbit is a children's book written by Margery Williams in 1922. It’s the story of a stuffed toy’s longing to become real. The rabbit is given to a small boy on Christmas Eve who at first likes it very much but as more presents are opened soon gets caught up playing with other more modern and interesting mechanical toys. And so, Rabbit is soon forgotten and spends most of its time in the cupboard or in the corner on the nursery floor, not being thought of very often and made fun of by the more expensive toys. It’s at this low time that Rabbit has a very important conversation with the wisest and oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, and this is how it goes …<br /><br />What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" "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.