Edgar Rabbitt

Edgar Rabbitt, The First Easter Bunny
Many, many years ago when Jesus was living upon the earth, there was a little white Bunny Rabbitt living in Jerusalem. He had bright, blue eyes, a little pink nose, pink ears and a fluffy white tail.
This Bunny's name was Edgar, and he had seen Jesus. Edgar had listened very carefully to all of the stories Jesus told the people. When Jesus walked from town to town, Edgar hopped right along with Him. He tried to stay in the tall grass or behind trees and rocks because he was afraid of people, except Jesus. Edgar knew Jesus loved him and would never hurt him.
Everywhere that Jesus went, Edgar could bee seen if you knew which tree or rock to look behind. One night Edgar was watching as Jesus knelt praying in a garden and he saw soldiers come into the garden and take Jesus to prison. Edgar was terribly upset and he ran back home, calling all of his rabbit friends to come and help.
But what could rabbits do? They couldn't talk to anyone. They weren't big enough to break down the walls so Jesus could get out...so the rest of the rabbits went back to the hill where they lived. But Edgar stayed by the prison all the time. In the daytime he hid behind the stones, but at night he would jump onto the high windowsill to look at Jesus and chatter at Him to let Him know that He had a friend.
And then one day Edgar saw the soldiers taking Jesus away. He watched as they put a crown of thorns on His head and he saw Jesus carry the heavy cross up Calvary Hill. Poor Edgar stayed on the hill the whole terrible day.....watching while Jesus died on the cross.
The next day, Edgar hopped over to the tomb where Jesus was placed and he saw all the flowers people had put by the grave. So Edgar ran home real fast because he wanted to get some flowers to put on the grave too. Just before he reached home Edgar found a basket, by the side of the road and he thought, "What a nice thing to carry my flowers in." But the basket was old and dirty so Edgar got out his glue and paint and fixed the basket up just like new. Then he went out to pick flowers, but he was too late. All the pretty flowers were gone. They had been picked by the people. Edgar had tears in his eyes when he turned to go back home. A pretty little red hen saw Edgar and she asked him why he was so sad. So Edgar told Mrs. Hen what had happened. Mrs. Hen thought and thought and then she said, "I don't have any flowers, but I do have some beautiful white eggs. Perhaps you could put them in your basket for Jesus." The tears left Edgar's eyes and a smile came to his lips. "Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Hen. I know just what I will do." Edgar put the eggs in his basket and hurried home. He got out his paints again, and he painted every one of the eggs. When finished, the eggs were the same pretty colors as flowers.
Then he thought, "I really should write something about Jesus on the eggs so that the people who see them will know they are for Him." On the first egg he wrote "Faith", because Jesus had often told everyone to always have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the next egg he wrote "Hope", because that was one of the things Jesus taught about. On the next one he wrote "Charity", because Jesus had often told everyone to help the poor. On the fourth egg he wrote "Kindness", because he heard Jesus say, "Be kind to one another." On the pretty red egg he wrote "Forgiveness" ,because while Jesus was on the cross, Edgar heard Him say,"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Edgar thought and thought, because there were so many words that he could use but he was almost out of eggs. Then he wrote "Reverence" because he knew that would make Jesus happy. Only one egg was left, a beautiful gold one, and Edgar knew exactly the word to put on this one. He wrote the words L,O,V, E. As he put the gold egg in the basket, Edgar remembered the time Jesus said,"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."
Finally the basket was ready, but something seemed to be missing. What could it be? Oh yes, Edgar found a bright ribbon to tie on the handle. There, his basket was beautiful and Edgar hoped it would be pleasing to the Lord. Edgar had worked so long on his basket that three days had passed since the crucifixion. It was Sunday morning when he took the basket to the grave and there was a woman sitting and crying. Edgar was frightened, but he saw that she was crying so hard she couldn't see him. He quietly put his basket in front of the flowers and then he heard a little noise so he ran behind a tree. When he peeked around the tree he saw Jesus talking to the woman. Just then Jesus saw the basket. He looked toward the tree and gave Edgar a beautiful, bright smile - as if to say "Thank You". From that time on, this Bunny has never been called Edgar again. He has always been known as the "Easter Bunny".


May your home be filled with love,
your life be filled with peace, and your world be full of joy during this Easter Season.