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\\u201cReal isn\'t how you are made,\\u201d said the Skin Horse. \\u201cIt\'s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.\\u201d\\xa0\\u201cDoes it hurt?\\u201d asked the Rabbit. \\u201cSometimes,\\u201d said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. \\u201cWhen you are Real you don\'t mind being hurt.\\u201d\\xa0\\u201cDoes it happen all at once, like being wound up,\\u201d he asked, \\u201cor bit by bit?\\u201d\\xa0\\u201cIt doesn\'t happen all at once,\\u201d said the Skin Horse. \\u201cIt takes a long time. That\'s why it doesn\'t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don\'t matter at all, because once you are Real you can\'t be ugly, except to people who don\'t understand.\\u201d\\xa0 \\u2015Margery Williams Bianco,\\xa0The Velveteen Rabbit

That\'s more than\\xa0just a poignant and sweet children\'s story. It\'s what God is doing in you when you suffer. We\\u2019re in a study of the poetical books of the Old Testament. This week: Job. May the Spirit use Job\'s words to give you resources for when you are suffering.