“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you, for you are my little bunny…”
Do you know the great children’s classic Runaway Bunny? It is based on the idea of little bunny getting her freedom. It could certainly be a twisted tale of overprotective parenting. But as it is told, it is a beautiful tale of a mother’s faithful and unending commitment to care for and protect her little bunny:
The bunny foolishly believes he can escape her mother and names all the ways he will evade her pursuit. For each suggestion, she has a kind counter that reveals her creative love: “If you become a bird and fly away from me,” said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”
We are not unlike the runaway bunny. We think we can dodge God, avoid God, hide from God, run faster than God. And yet, the Bible tells us that after the first sin, the first Adam tried to hide in shame and fear. And God, the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God, asks a question: “Where are you, Adam?”
The Runaway Bunny gives us a glimpse into the good news of redemption: God pursues and loves with a mother’s love: compassionate, nurturing, protective, and blunt. For God’s children, there is no great escape from God!
