Lost Rabbits and Found Grace

A few years back I went with my daughters to a State Park on a hike. We weren’t sure where the entrance to this park was, so we came in on a back road and as we drove up a dirt road which ended in a cul-de-sac, we saw two tame bunnies hopping around.

They were lop eared black and white, and hopped to and fro, looking for …God knows what, their cage?

As we got out of the car they hopped right over, even though we had our dog with us. One actually hopped underneath my Belgian Shepherd.

Luckily, Yaeger was used to cats and other furry things and he just sniffed disinterestedly. The bunnies would not let us pick them up, but they were clearly domesticated and looking for some comfort.

It became quickly obvious that the bunnies had been dumped here in someone’s misguided belief that they would thrive in the wild.

Domesticated rabbits dumped in the wild will only end up feeding coyotes and foxes.

My son has a rabbit, and I know how sweet, friendly, and helpless they can be. Had I run into the person who dumped them off, I would have had a few words.

“Mom, you have to catch them!” my daughters pleaded. But while they allowed us to pet them, they leaped out of our arms each time we tried to pick them up.

One retreated under a bush and the other followed. We tried again to grab ahold of them, but the brush was too dense. Just then two cars came down the road.

The first car passed, but the second driver got out and lo and behold it was a state park DNR officer on his way home. He stopped because we were illegally parked.

We explained the situation, and he quickly wriggled under the brush, expertly grabbed the bunnies and loaded them into the back of his SUV.

He knew of a rescue organization and he would take them directly there. Apparently this kind of thing happens often.

I was vastly relieved. What perfect timing. Really, rescuing two bunnies is a minor thing in the overall scheme of life, but it showed us once again about God’s care and provision.

Many times it seems that God lets me figure things out. On those occasions I stumble along dirt roads hoping for direction.

Then there are the times in life when I really feel God’s hand, where the timing is perfect and the ending is happy. Grace pulls up right beside us in an unmarked SUV and wriggles under the
brush to do what we cannot.

How easy it is for people to discard what no longer fits their lives (like those rabbits), and yet how God never discards us.

Jesus tells us God cares for the sparrow (and the bunny), how much more does God care for us, when we’re lost, frightened, and just looking for home.

Seminary professor Liston Mills said that all questions about God come down to one question: Can God be trusted? I think so.

Not because every story ends neatly, but because even in the messiest brush of life, grace still wriggles in to find us.

Trust is not certainty, it’s the quiet decision to believe we’re not forgotten, even when the ending is still unwritten.

About the Author: Rev. Sharon Smith once tried to rescue two discarded rabbits and ended up learning a theology of grace in the process. When she’s not writing or pastoring at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, she’s likely teaching her dogs that bunnies and cats are nice. Contact Sharon at tct@pageone-inc.com