Another Bunny Tale

I took a field trip today. It was a fun trip with the more senior members of the church and we went to a theme restaurant for lunch. They are a fun group and I enjoy them very much. Mostly.

Mostly. There is one that is very much like wrapping the inside of your sleeping bag in sand paper and rolling around in it. Kind of an irritating experience.

I feel I may boldly call this precious person 'kind of irritating' because it is a universally accepted statement of fact and really, it would be an injustice to call her anything else. Bunny Blither is a talker, and she is unable to, even for a moment, concede the floor. If one should foolishly try to participate in the conversation Bunny B simply talks louder and repetitively. Bunny B insists on her own way and should one choose something else, why her way would have been a better decision is discussed over and over again. Today it was discussed every two or three miles. I tried humor, I tried humming, I tried visualization, I tried diversion and finally I was terse. I might have bordered on rude. Perhaps when one of the seniors asked if I was taking them home by ferry and I responded "only some of you" I might have been a little out of line. Or when I said that they must all stop whining or perhaps when I said, "I have no idea what direction I am going and I prefer it that way". Not really the milk of human kindness.

I must say that Bunny Blither is not really my fault. I mean, it is clearly her parents responsibility. If they are sitting in eternal glory observing our suffering I feel sure they are feeling remorse. They say to themselves over strawberry jam and delicious yeast rolls,(you know they are on every breakfast table in heaven), "Honey, I told you we should have beat the girl much more often". I have heard that she was not always the blithering bunny she grew to be, but I do not believe it. I think her husbands must have been saints or deaf. Men can do that though, become deaf on demand. Just mention the trash, or their socks, or an errand. But this is a beef for another day.

So Bunny Blathers on. I will have to say that I am very bad about Bunny B. I groan when she is on the phone and I try to hide from her when she is in the building and I have been known to leave the store without what I came for rather than run into her. I know she is just a harmless little chatter bunny. Why on earth should I become so incensed when she blathers on so. Oh, put your hands down, I know I don't have any patience! There must be some other reason. Come on people, work with me. Let's call it a chemical reaction and be done with it.

Here is what I know it cannot possibly be. I am taking a summer class called Spiritual Formation, using a workbook the accompanies Richard Foster's book Streams of Living Waters. We have been practicing our streams and working on one or another every week. The fruit of the Spirit was one week and I have noticed I am not really growing a lot of patience fruit. It must be a particularly rare fruit and the conditions must be exceeding specific to get it to grow. I know that, whatever the reason it cannot be my fault. I have waited oh say, a day or two several times to see God fix Bunny Blither. Nothing. How on earth am I to develop this fruit when I am never given any positive reinforcement????

So, I have this sinking feeling the Bunny Blither and I will spend many more hours together until I can learn how to grow a little of that patience fruit. Hey, you know, it just could be that I am the wrong kind of tree. I mean maybe some trees aren't meant to bear patience fruit. I bet patience trees are planted in great soil that will produce a great harvest of food Bunny Blither would love to graze on. I think I will call her and share this thought. Oh darn it, I just remembered, she wont let me speak.