VELVETEEN

Before there was Woody in 'Toy Story,' there was 'The Velveteen Rabbit.' The main character in the classic children's book is a little stuffed rabbit, all clean and new, who becomes 'Real.' Along the way, the rabbit meets an old, worn out, but very much loved stuffed horse.

It is written: "The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew they were only toys and would never turn into anything else ...

'What is REAL?' asked the Rabbit one day ... 'Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?'

" ... Most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints ... "

'Real isn't how you were made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse ... 'but when you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up ... or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse ... 'it takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints ... but these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.'"

This is a community giving itself over to love.

And be blessed.