When Bunnies Grow Up

When we were children, my sister and I enjoyed owning a white rabbit.

Dad built a wire pen that stood on tall wooden legs and placed it against an outside wall of our barn, located near our house in rural Greenville, S.C. Our own “Peter Cotton-Tail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail” scampered around his little cage and contributed to our happiness.

One day, as we worked and played near our barn, Dad ate an orange and gave some of the peelings from that fruit to our rabbit. I later walked past our long-eared prisoner’s cage and discovered our pet had “passed on.”

“Daddy! Our rabbit’s dead!” I called.

Mother, Dad and Sister hurried to investigate. Dad was embarrassed and guessed the dye in the orange peelings killed our snow-white nibbler.

Lianne McLeod, DVM, says rabbits are often acquired as pets at Easter time and end up neglected or given up for adoption. Bunnies grow up and need as much attention and care as dogs. Rabbits are not ideal pets for children, partly because rabbits often don’t like to be held or cuddled.

A friend of our older daughter, Janelle, gave her a rabbit named “Flower” and a cage when Janelle was in high school. I cleared a space in our garage in Southern Pines, N.C., and Flower and her big hind feet came to live with us.

Janelle appeared thrilled with her hop-along pet – for a few days. Flower seemed to abhor a clean pen. As soon as Janelle would tidy up Flower’s habitation and line the cage’s floor with clean newspapers, Flower would have a kidney spasm. Janelle soon found someone to take Flower off her hands. The upkeep had exceeded the enjoyment.

My wife, Carol, and I recently asked an older gentleman who lives alone if he owned a dog. “No,” he said. “I don’t want anything around my house that makes a bigger mess than I do.”

We once had a neighbor who wanted an “English garden.” Her husband paid to have rocks brought in and various flowers and greenery artistically planted in their yard. The garden had to be weeded, however, and our friends hadn’t counted on our local deer population routinely tasting their nice plants.

Beginning something is often easier than maintaining it.

I heard about an unmarried woman who gave birth to a baby. After a few months, she knocked on the door of the apartment where the baby’s paternal grandmother lived. “You take him,” she said. “I can’t handle it.” She left that child with his grandmother, who raised him to adulthood.

Moses was anointed to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. The Hebrews hailed him as a man of God as he directed them across the Red Sea on dry ground. His sister, Miriam, broke out her tambourine, and they rejoiced over the Lord’s deliverance. Soon, however, the Israelites lacked water and grew weary in the wilderness. Some wished they’d never left Egypt and complained to Moses, “Have you brought us out here to die?” Moses went from “hero to zero,” someone said.

Perhaps you’re a Christian who felt joyful when you realized the Lord Jesus not only saved you but gave you the privilege of finding fulfillment through some kind of ministry. Maybe you even “birthed” a ministry. Perhaps doors opened and you felt energized as people praised you for your vision. But the upkeep of your creative aspiration has become a burden. Perhaps you feel discouraged or depressed.

“Bunnies grow up and need attention and care,” Dr. McLeod said.

Some projects or ministries are started with little planning for “maintenance.” And some worthwhile ministries are only useful for certain seasons of one’s life. Joyce Meyer said, “If the horse is dead, dismount.”

But sometimes we give up too easily. A person’s lack of depth of character and “small strength” may cause him to quit when adversity comes. We should remember this: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). And here is practical advice: “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Proverbs 27:23).

I think many of us spend the first half of our lives learning how to do many things and spend the last half of our lives figuring out how many of those things we need to quit doing. Our egos keep us “spread too thin” and stressed. We try to regroup and prioritize. We wonder how many things that call to us are “of God” and how many are “of self.”

Someone said, “Duties never conflict.” I’ve often wondered about that statement.

Jesus visited Martha and Mary. Martha busied herself preparing food and making sure Jesus’ visit went well. Mary sat and listened as Jesus talked. Martha criticized Mary, saying, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42 NIV).

When my wife sees me worrying over many things I feel I need to be doing, she often says, “Steve, what are you meant to do, today?”

That statement brings me back to earth, and I pray for wisdom. Things important to God should be at the top of my to-do list. St. Paul wrote: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“Bunnies grow up and need attention and care.”

Father, give me wisdom when I consider making commitments, and help me stick with commitments I’ve made that are important to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.