Elastagirl and Tent Poles

We've prayed that God would expand our horizons and enlarge our tent and currently He seems to be doing so in many ways. As a result, we are being stretched. We've been stretched before so it's not a new experience, it's just always one that makes us realize how puny we were when we started. And as our tent poles are being moved out to accommodate a greater territory, the resources that we have are being called on to bear an even greater weight, to bear up under even more pressure and to adapt to whatever current need is being addressed. Yep, feeling a little thin (and wishing that were more literal than figurative).

I relate, probably too well, to The Incredibles. It just seems that we started out knowing that we could leap tall buildings, right wrongs, and talk rationally to psychotic impostor super-heros. We've hit middle age front and center and are bogged down by things like cars whose doors don't shut (maybe because we slammed them too hard ourselves), jobs that can be tedious (like hauling wood), sometimes unfulfilling (like washing the umptenth load of dishes) and don't always pay the bills, kids who don't follow the mold, and the knowing that we were meant for something with a little more pizazz. If I were only, really, truly, ElastaGirl and Viking Man were Mr. Incredible, we could get a little more done, with a lot less of what it seems like it currently takes.

But we're not Super Heros (darn that) and so, for us, it all boils down to faith. Cause I know that we are walking out some things that have been long-time callings and passions and burdens so that's not really what's at issue. It's just, dang it, that stretching thing again- called on to be a lot when it seems like we have so little.

Yesterday, we were all so hungry, it had been a long morning and it was well into the afternoon. The first bite was awesome and we seriously offered up a prayer of Thanksgiving. I started wondering about food and why God made us to require it. And I wonder if it's because He just wants us to think about what He's provided a couple of times a day. Maybe, because of the comfort in which most of us live, we've forgotten that food isn't a given and that it is truly cause for thanks. And really, when you think about it, God just added in the fun part of it, cause He did. Because He has a great sense of humor and fun, so He gave us chocolate and fruit and gum. Not cause we need it, but just to see us happy.

And I think that's where the stretching thing comes in, That when we're really following God we should feel thin, we should feel a desire for more, we should really long and hunger and seek and find Him. That we start the day with a knowledge that we don't have what it takes so we're looking to Him to fill in the gaps, which are many and deep and wide. And then wait for the surprise, the fun, the "just because." That as He provides all that we need it is abundant and good and we are filled with more than we can ask or imagine. That our hands, which seemed empty, become full, and out of His abundance we can walk out the call.