Thursday, April 30, 2009

Week Ten: A New Addition to the Family

Let me put your mind at ease...no, I’m not pregnant! Thank goodness! But I do have a new baby...a baby rabbit! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet in my blog, but I love animals. I absolutely adore them. I think my ideal place to live would be on a farm. One animal that I always wanted to have was a bunny. They’re so soft and adorable...

I was thoroughly warned about rabbits. First my mom warned me that her friend has a rabbit and likened it to a furry little demon. Then my husband gently reminded me that if we were to buy a bunny, he would have no part in taking care of it. I began to have doubts. What’s so bad about bunnies?

Well, when we arrived at the market and saw the adorable little bunnies there, my mind was made up. No more doubts. I wanted a bunny, come what may! The repeated “are you sure?” from my husband fell on deaf ears. I was in love with my new little bunny!

I have to say that my personal experience with my bunny has been a positive one. I had no idea how bunnies behave. First of all they eat everything, so you have to be careful about that. I find myself checking on my bunny every 3-5 minutes all day long if I’m home, making sure she’s not getting into trouble. (She usually is.) I think in this respect it’s much like having a toddler in the house. My bunny is a picky eater; she has to have variety. Jairo says she’s definitely in the right house, since she’s so much like me! But most of all this rabbit is hilarious. I find myself laughing all the time when she’s allowed to roam around the house. Even Jairo has taken to her.

Having a rabbit has been interesting as well because of the conversations it has sparked between Jairo and me. A lot of times we end up talking about parenting, usually with a comment I’ll make to him such as “You know, having a baby is a hundred times worse than this. If you want to have kids you’ll have to toughen up!” It makes for fun conversations and musings about the children that we someday (but not any day soon) want to have. Realizing the commitment involved in parenting (albeit parenting a rabbit for now) has made me appreciate the uninterrupted time that I have with Jairo now. I would love to have kids, maybe even a lot of them, but I’ve realized the importance of this formative time of our relationship.

As the Bible says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Ecc. 3:1-8)

I think much of life is understanding what time we’re in and being content to ride it out. The time for being newlyweds is just as important as the time for growing old together. And trusting God’s promise in Romans 8:28 that all thins work together for our good, we must be patient and trust that God knows exactly what time of our life is necessary. If I were to rewrite the passage of Scripture above to apply to our marriage, it might be something like this:

*For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter in our marriage: a time to have a wedding, a time to grow old; a time to invest time in each other, a time to reap the benefits of that investment; a time to argue, a time to make up; a time to change course, a time to keep going; a time to cry, a time to laugh; a time to mourn, a time to celebrate; a time to buy bunnies, a time to have children; a time to embrace, a time to keep our distance; a time to win, a time to lose (even when I know I’m right!); a time to cling, a time to let go; a time to wound for the other’s good, a time to heal; a time to be silent (I need to learn this!), a time to speak; a time to love, a time to love even more; a time for war and a time for peace.*

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