"No one has greater love than this..."

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.  (Philippians 4:8 CEV)

Oh, yes! We were holy in the Curate's house yesterday.  The Bible tells us to fill our minds with whatever is holy so I decided that, as it was the start of Lent, we would watch Veggietales and other 'pure' TV.  OK, so I had a poorly boy off of school who loves Veggietales and it was the easiest way to get him to engage with the Bible story that our family Lenten activities are based on (more on that another time...)

But there's only so much Veggietales a mummy can watch in one day.  So, in the afternoon we snuggled up and watched The Velveteen Rabbit.  I've never seen the film before, nor read the book but I have read lots of quotes from the book:




The story is one of love and loss.  It is a very beautiful story.  Eventually the rabbit has to die because the little boy loved him so much.  But at this point the rabbit becomes real instead of a well-loved stuffed toy.

The story reminds me of a Bible quote:

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  (John 15:13 NIV)

When I started this blog, I promised you that I would be real.  But being real, becoming real, is a painful process.  When the Curate started his training we had to move 170 miles away from our home, friends and family.  I had to give up my job that I (mostly) loved, along with many other things.  It was a time of huge loss for me.  And then just I was getting comfortable, we moved another 170 miles further North.

Why did I do that? Why did I give up my whole life to become a Curate's wife? The answer is love.  I love God and promised to serve Him.  I love the Curate (and often serve him too!).  And I love the people of our parish (I hope that I serve them enough).

If there's one thing that I can promise you, it's that I am real.  I don't do fake.  I don't do false.  Does it hurt being real? Sometimes.  Do I mind? No.  I wouldn't have it any other way.