Becoming Real Takes Time

In Margery Williams' beloved 1922 children's story The Velveteen Rabbit, a stuffed rabbit asks the oldest toy in the nursery what it means to become Real. The Skin Horse, worn threadbare from years of a child's love, gives an answer that has echoed through generations: "It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept."

The Rabbit wants to be Real right now. But the Skin Horse explains that realness comes only through being loved over a long stretch of time — through having your fur rubbed off, your eyes dulled, your joints loosened. The process is slow. Sometimes it hurts. But the Skin Horse wouldn't trade a single threadbare patch.

James tells us to "let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." The Almighty is not in a hurry with us. He is doing something patient and thorough — rubbing away our sharp edges, wearing down our pretenses, making us Real through the slow, faithful pressure of His love.

If you feel worn today, take heart. The fraying isn't failure. It's formation. The Lord who began a good work in you is not rushing to finish — He is loving you into something Real.