Lessons Learned from the Easter Bunny

            Several years ago, God used a real Easter Bunny to teach me a few things.  

            It was the day before Easter and the warm weather allowed us the enjoyment of eating outside(nothing like this year!)  We were doing just that when my oldest spotted the next door neighbor cat carrying something in his mouth.  At first we thought that there were new kittens in the neighborhood, but soon we discovered that it was a wild baby bunny. 

            After chasing the cat away the kids begged my husband to come with them and check on the bunny.  It was badly wounded but still alive and so my husband (the softie) gently bathed the bunny and applied antibiotic medication to its severe wounds.  Later he bottle fed the bunny with a syringe and by evening the bunny was up and moving around a bit.  Throughout the whole ordeal my four children watched with eager expectation and offered several prayers to God for the bunny they now called, “Fighter.”  As we went to bed my husband and I talked about what a great picture of the true meaning of Easter Fighter represented and what a miracle it would be if he survived. 

            Easter morning dawned bright and we rushed through the house getting ready for the Sunrise service at our church.  Suddenly my oldest remember Fighter and rushed to check on him.  With great sadness it was reported to the rest of the family that Fighter had not made it.

            Being persuaded by our children we held a memorial service for Fighter, complete with a song and prayers from all.  Then my husband spoke to the kids and his message was so profound.  He reminded the kids of how much they cared for this bunny the instant they saw him; of how the bunny was lost and alone with no hope for survival until we took mercy on him and chased away his enemy.  He reminisced with them about how concerned they all were for Fighter and how diligent they were in caring for him.  Then he asked them to think of the friends that they each had.  He told them to think specifically about the friends that did not know Jesus. Then he compared those friends to the bunny and asked our kids if they were as concerned for their friends as they had been for the bunny. 

            It sure got me to thinking about how callously I approach the relationships in my life, often with little regard to whether or not the people who cross my path even know Jesus.  In fact if I were to be totally honest, and peel off the pastor's wife mask, I may even have to admit that it is often easier for me to care about, and to pour my heart and soul into a helpless little bunny than it is to deal with some of the people God has put into my life.  I am not saying that the bunny was not significant to God, Luke 12:24 tells us, "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!"  Luke was telling us that birds (and bunnies) are part of God's creation and He cares for them, but that human beings, you and I, we are much more valuable!
So as you celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus this Easter, I encourage you to view the people God has put in your path as valuable.  Many of them are lost and alone, with no hope for survival.  Lets have mercy on them, love them like Jesus and help them chase the enemy away.  Will you join me?