by Tim Knappenberger

As I said, we had mistakenly believed Shadow was actually after bunnies. We were wrong. This was impressed upon me a few weeks ago when we went through the usual ritual of winding Shadow up with motivational messages of a bunny being out back. This time, however, she bolted out the door, down the steps, through the yard, and right past the bunny who sat there casually munching away! At first I thought she had simply over-shot her mark due to her fever-pitched excitement. Wrong again. When the bunny, deciding not to tempt fate anymore than it already had hopped away, Shadow just sat and watched it bound into the foliage. No mad pursuit, no "Prepare to meet thy maker!" What followed, however, revealed the real object of her desires. She ran over to where the bunny had been sitting, buried her nose in the grass, and then commenced with her trademark yip-yip-yipping. She did her serpentine dance, weaving to and fro, here and there all over the yard; everywhere the bunny had been, but no longer was. You see, it wasn’t the actual bunny she was after, it was the bunny’s scent!

You see, to Shadow that scent represents far more than any scrawny ball of fur could ever be. The scent is trace evidence of something she thinks she desires, exists beyond her reach, but can be hers with a little effort. In her doggie imagination, the scent represents the mother-of-all-bunnies, not some common cottontail. The thrill of the chase is ended only by the disappointment of the find.

How like Shadow we are. How many "perfect promotions" have been pursued, or "dream dates" courted, or "awesome autos" financed finally to be possessed but leaving the pursuer asking that age old question "Is that all there is?" The depressing truth of the answer to the question is "Yes! That really is all there is." At least that’s all the earthly object of your pursuit has to offer. Promotions cannot give permanent job security. Dates, even when they become spouses, cannot be relied upon to provide perpetual protection against loneliness and nagging insecurities. Cars ultimately take you from point "A" to point "B", not to the heights of ecstasy and "Driving excitement" Detroit and Tokyo promise. It behooves us all to frequently stop short and ask the question "What am I really after and why am I after it? I contend that most times, we simply don’t know. It often dawns on us after-the-fact that what we thought we were after really wasn’t it. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man. (Eccl.12:13 - NIV)

Solomon chased his "bunnies." He had more money and privilege than you can imagine. It was this privileged position that allowed him to run after EVERY object of his desire. Wine, women, power, palaces, gardens, gold, armadas and armies. You name it, King Sol had it. Yet despite all of his pursuing, experimenting, and indulging, Ecclessiastes 12:13 is what he ultimately "caught." "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is…" not the past-time, hobby, or leisurely pursuit of man, but "the WHOLE of man." Catch this first, catch this last, catch this always! For if you do, everything else either falls into its proper place in your life or else you will be able to simply watch it "hop" into the bushes where it belonged anyway. Sadly, we dash to and fro in these lives of ours thinking we’re hot on the heels of happiness when really the only thing we’re whipped into a lather about is a tell-tale scent of something that isn’t there. Instead of burying our noses deep in the world, why not lift our eyes toward Christ? Any "bunnies" in your backyard?

1 Chronicles 28:9 (American Standard Version)