My daughter’s good friends have been trying to convince her to adopt their bunny. It is an outdoor bunny which lives on their back patio in its little bunny crate. They keep encouraging my daughter that it won’t be any hassle … the bunny can just keep living on her back patio, no problem. Then, when she wants to snuggle it, she can bring it inside and have some snuggles.
After much careful thought and deliberation … my daughter finally agreed to adopt their bunny.
Yesterday was the day her good friend was driving down from way up north to bring her the bunny.
Yesterday it also dumped rain! Usually, winter rains are a gentle shower. But not yesterday. Yesterday the rain was gusting and blowing from all directions.
When my daughter got home after work she discovered, much to her dismay, that the bunny crate she had specially prepared on her back patio for her newly arriving bunny … was completely soaked through! Everything was soaked from the cold wet driving rain!
This will not do!
Yes, it is an outdoor bunny. But that does not mean it wants to be completely soaked through! This would not be healthy for the bunny. The bunny needs protection from the rain and gusting winds.
I couldn’t help but think: Love protects.
My daughter wants to take good care of the bunny, so she will do what she needs to to protect the little bunny. For starters she brought the bunny crate inside. She doesn’t really want the bunny inside, but for time being this is the only workable solution, since the sideways rain is soaking her entire back patio.
Love protects … even though at times it will be inconvenient.
My daughter got the bunny crate all dried out, so that the bunny would be comfortable. This is what love does. Love protects … love brings comfort.
My daughter went online and discovered that there are specially designed waterproof covers for dog/bunny crates. Who knew! She picked one that would work … and it should be delivered tomorrow.
Love protects.
The bunny is an outdoor bunny, so it will still live outdoors on my daughter’s patio … but it will be protected from the rain and wind with a waterproof covering.
Here you can see bunny in its new home.
As I’ve been thinking about my daughter’s newly adopted bunny … and how love protects … I can’t help but think of the red-tailed hawk. I wrote about the red-tailed hawk a few blog posts ago.
The red-tailed hawk is very fond of bunnies. But … at the same time, the red-tailed hawk is self-seeking.
My daughter’s newly adopted bunny must be protected from that which is self-seeking.
Just like my daughter’s bunny needs to be protected from the rain blowing in sideways and soaking it completely … so also, life itself “dumps rain” on us. “Storms” blow in sideways trying to “soak” our soul. And God protects us.
God covers us and takes care of us … just like my daughter has purchased a waterproof covering to cover and take care of the bunny. Love protects.
At the same time, life itself is full of people who are fond of us only because of what they can get from us. (just like the red-tailed hawk is fond of bunnies) These types of people typically have nothing to do with us … until they want something from us. Then they claim to care. They claim love. They desire access to our heart.
However, these people are self-seeking. They will swoop in only when it benefits themselves (most often at our expense).
These people are not safe.
Love protects.
In the last blog post I wrote about – Love keeps no record of wrongs. This is true. When we are living from the love which the Holy Spirit gives us, we will not store up wrongs which others have done against us.
But this does not mean that those who have hurt us can have full access to our heart.
Those who have done wrongs against us have broken trust. We can forgive them. We can choose to let the offenses go … refusing to store up the offenses against them in our heart and mind. But that does not mean we give them full access to our heart.
People who do wrongs against us are usually self-seeking (like the red-tailed hawk is towards the bunny).
Love protects.
The Holy Spirit is Love … therefore, the Holy Spirit will protect us from those who are self-seeking by alerting us deep in our spirit that these people are not safe. The Holy Spirit will protect us by prompting us to maintain some distance in our relationships with these types of people.
Love protects.
Just because someone claims to love us and claims to care, this does not mean they automatically have access to our heart. If the person is self-seeking (like the red-tailed hawk is with the bunny) love will protect by creating some healthy boundaries. Love will protect by maintaining some appropriate distance.
Love protects.
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be people of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.” – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
“Love always protects.” – 1 Corinthians 13:7
