tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30458926.post-89627995310572938282008-07-31T21:16:00.005-04:002008-07-31T22:48:40.934-04:00The suspense is palpable as we turn each page. We sit, we three, on the couch, I in the middle, and on either side a girl, with long, silken, summer-sun-kissed hair. Their skin is the colour of the brown eggs in the grocery store; the kind you pay extra for; even though the insides are the same as the white eggs; but I digress.<br /><br />Both have eyes the colour of chestnuts and Victoria has a delicate sprinkle of freckles over the bridge of her nose that looks as if an angel flicked a paint brush laden with burnt sienna, as a finishing touch when God was making her.<br /><br />I pause in my reading of the book, as I often do, to ask a question. "What do you like best--movies or books?"<br /><br />Without hesitation, with eyes wide and bright, they shout out, "Books!"<br /><br />"Why books?" I ask.<br /><br />Tiffany-Amber said, "Because movies are so...predictable."<br /><br />And Victoria added, "Yes, and books allow you so see so many more pictures in your mind."<br /><br />Oh, I know. I know exactly what they mean. We have been enthralled with the book we've been reading. It is a book that makes your heart ache and almost break--and all over the adventures of an arrogant china rabbit that is being softened through suffering.<br /><br />Tonight we are nearing the end of the book and we share the sweet sadness known to all who love a good book and hate to see it end. I pause, and go back and reread a passage, in which Edward the rabbit, who had been so dreadfully hurt that he refused to acknowledge his heart anymore, feels it fluttering to life:<br /><br /><em>* Edward's heart stirred. He thought, for the first time in a long time, of the house on Egypt Street and of Abilene winding his watch and then bending toward him and placing it on his left leg, saying: I will come home to you.</em><br /><em>No, no, he told himself. Don't believe it. Don't let yourself believe it.</em><br /><em>But it was too late.</em><br /><em>"</em>Some one will come for you."<br /><em>The china rabbit's heart had begun, again, to open.</em><br /><em></em><br />And I say to the girls that think that the story of Edward is a story within a story and that the story is our story, the story of lives lived and finding the courage to love and be loved. And I tell them how sometimes a heart will close itself up in self protection but how that is a sad thing and to be avoided at all costs in favour of bravery.<br /><br />Two sets of eyes are wide open. Two pairs of ears listening carefully. And I treasure this moment, in which I hope two small hearts are growing in understanding, in the ways of life and of God, with the help of Edward and a grandmother who loves them.<br /><br />* <em>The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane </em>by Kate diCamillo<br /><br />Acts 14:22 (New Living Translation)<br /><em>22 where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.</em>Belindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251920708783268740noreply@blogger.com