There’s a story called The Velveteen Rabbit. Â It’s about a stuffed animal that was drug
around by a Boy during the magical moments of childhood, through sickness and fear. Â
What is Real? the Velveteen Rabbit asked the old, wise Horse in the nursery.
Being real, the Horse says, is when The Boy loves you regardless of what you look like or how old you are.Â
When he loves you for who you are, then you’re Real.
 Our culture needs more people who are Velveteen Rabbit real. People who are empathetic, compassionate, and gentle. Living what’s important.
Velveteen Rabbit important.
Those who take time with people and children. They help when needed. They listen without judgment.
I’m afraid people don’t know how to be Real anymore. We’re too busy striving. What for, I’m not sure. Things that are meaningless when we’re gone. Things that aren’t Real.
When we’re Real with people, we leave a legacy. Like the Boy and the Rabbit, doing life in the dirt, in sickness, and fear.
Are you spending time with people in places that are dirty, filled with sickness and fear?
These are Real moments full of truth, love, and compassion. Priceless moments in a world where shiny, big and beautiful is valued.
When death comes, people don’t care about shiny, big and beautiful.
They want to hold on to something Real.
A legacy that’s planted down deep, one they can hold onto.Â
I don’t know about you, but ten minutes on Twitter, Facebook, and the nightly news leaves me empty. There are a lot of violent, sick, and crazy things happening. People shouting, blaming, living in fear.
I refuse to be accept a world where people are losing sight of what’s real.Â
Will you join me? Do things scream for your attention that conflict with your values? Do you feel helpless in a world that’s increasingly violent, self-centered, sex-saturated and crazy?
You don’t have to. You can impact every life around you by being Real. Velveteen Real.
People are hungry for authenticity, relationships and truth.
Do you love people for who they are, regardless of what they look like or how old they are?
You have the ability to impact the world each time you make time for people, play with a child, listen with your heart and tell someone you love them.
If you’re so busy you can’t remember the last time you did these things, take a moment to pause, rest, and reach out.Â
When your last breath is taken, will you be at peace with the Real things you’ve done?Â
“She told me she loved me the last time I talked to her” someone said.
That’s Velveteen Real. What legacy will you leave?
Who can you impact today? Will you share with us how you’ve been real with others?
Brenda,
Going to your site and reading Legacy of Being Real touched my heart and made me want to send it to my grown son and his wife with a note from my heart. I want to share it with you and your readers.
Son,
Remember when I used to always say,” People are the most important. Always have time for People?” You seemed very good at this growing up. I remember you sitting up and conversing over the computer (or was it the phone?) with Andrew one night because he was struggling with the God issue. You patiently witnessed to him into the wee hours of the morning even though you had to get up the next morning. I was so proud of you.
Even though I know in my heart that the most important thing in our lives is to be there for our family and close friends, I feel like I have lost sight of the importance of making time for people outside of my home. It is something I always want to do. I struggle almost every day with it. I let other things get in my way. It seems that there is always something to do and that I am so exhausted by the time I finish what I feel I must do. I’m asking God to help me figure out how to slow down on the must do’s and do what my heart desires, which is make more time for my family first, but friends too.
I seem to think everything has to take time to be worth doing, but it doesn’t. Just stopping on the spur of the moment and saying, “Come down for supper,” and actually having that time even though it was short was so amazing! Then you guys called and said,”Come to the dog park.” That was great! These times felt so real, relaxed and unforced. I just remembered that your visit with the great news of our Grandbaby, just a few weeks ago, was spur of the moment and of course that was really an amazing time together!
It seems that planning time to get together is so hard. Life just gets in the way. Life is short. Let’s keep finding more real, spur of the moment times for each other. I want us to leave a “Legacy of Being Real!!!!”
Love,
Mom
Vicky, this is so heartfelt and so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing not only this personal message with your godly son, but also the personal, intimate part of yourself. I value this so much, along with who you are a mom from the short time I’ve gotten to know you. You have been faithful, and God sees. Thank you so much for sharing.
I finally had time to read this….I’d skimmed thru it but knew I wanted to read it when I could really ‘digest’ it. It’s an excellent article and something I strive to be…thanks for writing!
Thank you so much Rosetta. That means a lot. I have found you to be very real and loving!
http://lauriesnotes.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/something-that-is-real/
I went back to get this little post. 🙂
And sorry for your loss.
_/\_
I love this, Brenda. Love it. I feel that way about your writing and reaching out.
This is where I choose to put my energy. The other day I realized I wasn’t wasting any energy on creating some kind of image of who I am not. It was a wonderful feeling. Real moments. Connecting real moments. I love it.
Laurie
Thank you so much Laurie – I appreciate your words and your mutual honesty. How God uses our pain to bring us out and helps us be real.
What great memories Velveteen Rabbit brings to mind! Thank you for the reminder, Brenda, that we CAN have an impact in our world. Blessings on you as you share truth.