Becoming Real

Becoming Real

Who are you when no one else is looking? When the shades are drawm and the lights go dim? Are you and I the people everyone think we are?

The classic childrens book "The Velveteen Rabbit" holds within its pages a powerful message about being real. In one scene, we eavesdrop on a dialogue between a new toy rabbit and an old skin horse. They're lying side by side in the nursery as the rabbit asks the horse what it means to be real. "Well, it doesn't happen all at once," said the skin horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who breaks easily or have sharp edges or 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 you see, these things don't matter at all, because once you're real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Take a long look at yourself in the mirror. Are you a real person? Do people see the real you when you greet them or are they merely seeing one of the many masks that you wear? Becoming real is difficult, but the rewards far outweigh the pain. Remember the words of the old skin horse. "Once you're real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Adapted from
Dr James Dobson
Focus On The Family
Today (Thur 13/10/05)