One night, our oldest daughter walked into the room with a stuffed bunny rabbit. She tapped on the bunny’s chest and it began to sing.
Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong.
They are weak but He is strong.
She pulls this bunny out periodically, and this is one song she has learned and sings regularly. I recorded her singing it just before her 3rd birthday last winter, sitting on her bed, legs crossed, the perfectly little voice of an almost 3-year old belting out a great tune.
https://youtu.be/xO6VmIEITjw
Early last year, as my grandmother neared her final days, our 3 year old went with us to visit. After a few visits, she started requesting we go visit, often asking at the dinner table, “Can we go see G-mom?”
One night, we walked into my grandmother’s room and sat down. I said to our daughter, “You know what? I bet G-mom would love to hear you sing!”
Still a little timid at that point, I pulled out my phone of the recording and played it. My daughter beemed, though neither of them said anything that night.
During our next visit, in one of her few moments of clarity, my grandmother sat up in her bed and wanted to sing. And this time our daughter joined in. The two of them sang together:
Jesus loves me, this I know.
I don’t know what memories my daughter will hold as she gets older. From time to time, she mentions certain things we have done in the not so recent past. I hope these are memories she pulls out as she grows older and carries with her.
Sitting with her great-grandmother. Singing together. Praying with her and for her.
As we sat in the living room that night, listening to the bunny sing, it hit me. This stuffed bunny rabbit had been a gift to my daughter when she was born.
From my grandmother.
The rabbit didn’t mean much at the time, in the midst of a lot of gifts. But now it means a lot.
I hope this rabbit keeps singing for a long time, but no matter the memory of the bunny, I hope my daughter keeps singing those words and knowing what her great-grandmother knew: Jesus loves her, this she knew, because the Bible told her so.
