We wish Teddy understood that we mean him no harm when we pick him up. His resistance makes it harder for all of us.
On the first day, Ellis and I were talking to Teddy and trying to reassure him that this handling was necessary for him to be a show rabbit. He got lots of treats, but he still thumped his hind legs in protest and would not come to the front of the cage to be petted. Ellis turned to me and said that she wished Teddy could talk and she could tell him to trust us that we are not trying to hurt him.
Her comment made me chuckle and we both laughed in saying that’s probably how God feels about it. Just as much as we love Teddy and have big plans for him, God loves us and has good plans for us but the preparation time can be unfamiliar and painful. We have things to learn before we can do what God has planned for us but how we resist and squirm! He tells us to trust Him and our past experiences teach us that God can be trusted, but we are slow to listen. This is true for me!
Can you relate?
25 responses to “A rabbit gave me insight about faith”
Oh yes! I certainly relate! This is such a great metaphor! 💗
Thank you! I’m so glad you could relate to it.
What a lovely easter metaphor!
I’ll keep it in my mind when I’m fidgeting and resistant!
Linda xx
Thank you!
😘
Absolutely! But why do you want him to be a show rabbit rather than just a pet? It doesn’t sound much fun to me. Have a fabulous weekend together, Esther xx
Thank you! That’s a great question…I didn’t know that there was a world of show rabbits before we joined 4-H. Teddy is a pure breed and we got him for showmanship so that kids can learn how to show him to a judge. It’s part of a youth leadership process. Once kids get the hang of doing showmanship, we will have him as a pet then. But for now, we’ll all be training for it.
Hope you had a great weekend too!
A interesting faith lesson and perspective on how we can resist being cared for by God, (but boy oh boy, it sure seems Teddy has a unique personality all his own. Keep the love vibes going!)🤗💖💜🩷
We’re learning more of Teddy’s personality on a daily basis. It’s fun to figure it out and to make him part of our family.
He’s also teaching us so much about patient and persistence and gentleness. Reminds me of how God sees us.
So sweet. 💚
Thank you!
Good analogy!
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Yes, I can relate Esther. I’m sorry Teddy has trouble trusting you yet … your time together has not been that long, but it is interesting that he resists you by putting his legs like this (in your picture) to thwart your attempts to pick him up. Maybe show-n-tell is in order: borrow Diamond for a few hours and you demonstrate how it works and go from there.
Thank you! I’m so glad that you could relate to this post. Who would’ve thought that a bunny would teach me about faith so early in our relationship with him?!
We’ve never picked up Diamond fully cause she’s very skittish too. The only time that full holding happened was when she accidentally got scotch tape on her body. Chris had to wear long sleeves and hold her down while I removed the tape. She’s much bigger than Teddy and her hind legs can do some damage.
We’re starting early so Teddy gets the hang of being handled and won’t resist it. It’s possible because we’ve seen so many relaxed rabbits.
I’m glad we synched and related on this post Esther. I had no idea that bunnies would be skittish. The bunny I had was way back when I was about seven and I had a photo holding him, but I can’t say if he was skittish when I picked him up or not. I didn’t realize Diamond was skittish too. I imagine the hind legs could kick something fierce!
Ditto!
I only posted photos of Diamond sitting near us and letting us pet her. She was very mellow in being near us, but we could not pick her up unless it was for a very short time.
Their nails are fierce and sharp. My arms have scratch marks galore right now from Teddy. After the nail trimming from our friend, he’s less prone to give us scratches. Bunnies are prey animals, so they are naturally fearful of their getting picked up and get startled easily. When you pick a rabbit, you should get low to their level and hold their hind feet, so it doesn’t feel like are getting picked up a larger animal or hawk. To pet him, we alert by talking to him and letting him know we are there and we don’t pet him from above or else he will jump. If they flop on their sides though, that means they are relaxed and happy.
So much to learn! To put it into practice is another thing.
That’s interesting and I never thought about them being prey animals so they would naturally be wary or fearful of being touched. That’s good that you learned all these ways to approach and pick up Teddy, lest a false move terrify him or he tries to scratch you. At least the nails aren’t lethal now – you don’t want you or the kids getting scratched. I hope there are lots of side flops for you. 🙂
We have to start over again! He doesn’t want to be picked up again since we haven’t been handling him for 8 days, so we’re back to square one. It’s an up and down cycle.
He allows pets and will come up on our laps for treats and more petting. Ellis was doing the best before we left, but she’s having a hard time with Teddy. I see her disheartened and it makes me sad. She so wants to do showmanship, but we have to give it time and more patience.
It will take time – he is still young. Ellis will be showing and handling Teddy by year-end.
You won’t believe this, but we are actually able to pick up and hold Teddy without war breaking out with us and the rabbit and among us. We got an extra cage with a top lid, which makes it much easier to get a hold of him. In the other cage, if he retreated farther back, we couldn’t reach him and he’d jump over our arms. He has stubby legs but he’s super fast!
That was a good idea – more control and less slipping away from you!
I can definitely relate and thanks for the reminder. 😊
I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for commenting and relating.