An elderly parent came to live with us on Ladyslipper Lane this year. Dementia is slowly stealing the present, and in many ways she is childlike as childhood memories are at the forefront of her mind.

This morning we watched a chubby wild rabbit scrounging for sunflower seeds dropped by the birds as they flitted from feeders to the trees. She asked if we could make it a pet (she asks for pets often--especially a kitty). And then she related her child-of-the-Depression experience. "We tamed a wild bunny and made him our pet. He lived in the vacant lot next door, and we watched him grow from just a little thing into a nice, big rabbit. One day my dad shot him and wanted us to eat him for supper. We would NOT! My mom was so mad at him."

She laughed a little--the light of forgiveness spreading over her countenance making the memory easy and even somewhat sweet. A faith-filled woman, she has not held on to bitterness, even through many greater trials than bunny for dinner.

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23