Loved Into Being Real

In Margery Williams' beloved children's story The Velveteen Rabbit, there is a conversation between two nursery toys that contains more theology than most textbooks. The Velveteen Rabbit asks the Skin Horse what it means to be Real. The old horse, worn smooth from years of a child's affection, explains that Real is not how you are made — it is something that happens to you. "When a child loves you for a long, long time," the Skin Horse says, "not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real." He warns that the process is not always comfortable. It can mean having your fur rubbed off and your eyes loosened. But once you are Real, he says, you cannot be ugly, except to people who do not understand.

This is a portrait of what the love of God does to a human soul. We come to Him synthetic, stiff, trying to look presentable on the shelf. But the Almighty does not leave us there. His love is not decorative — it is transformative. It wears away our pretense, loosens the places where we have been stitched too tight, and makes us into something genuine. The process can hurt. Sanctification always does. But there is no other path to becoming fully alive.

The good news is that the One who loves you is not a child who will outgrow you. His love never moves on to the next thing. He loves you until you are Real — and then He keeps loving you still.