Our lives were never meant to be familiar. We were made for more. For momentum. For change.
One thing I've learned over the past few years, is that change requires stretch. Sometimes a stretch so big that it really hurts. Like, every fiber of your body is ripping apart and it hurts so bad that you want to just give up so your body can relax! Jump into a hot tub, drift off to la la land, and forget it. You know that if you call it quits you'll be given immediate relief.
But not today. Not this month. Not this life. Ever. I'm done quitting. Even when it goes against every grain in my human body.
I'm learning to like the stretch now because I know it's bringing me closer to my completeness. Not by me but by God. The completeness He has ordained for me from the beginning of time. If He has a place He wants me, then I must trust that the stretch is what's going to get me there. Each time I'm stretched, if I continue, I'll be able to stretch farther than before. If I resist or even take a break for a while, it's going to pull me back a few steps. Embracing each stretch, instead of fighting it, is going to take me closer to completion.
Although I know I won't be complete until the day I meet my maker, there is a difference between arriving at that point complete and just arriving by the skin of my teeth. Anyone can arrive at their destination, but not everyone takes the road they're supposed to.
It's like baking a cake. Even if you don't put in every ingredient that's intended, you can still put it in the oven and bake it for the predetermined time. You can even take it out of the oven when you're supposed to. But it will not in any way resemble the intended cake. It can even be served before its maker. But it won't be what the maker wanted.
We have to allow every ingredient, every stretch, in order to be what God intends us to be. I want to stand before Him on that first day of eternity, knowing full well that I had every ingredient He intended for me to have. That I didn't leave anything out. The good, the bad, the ugly. I lived it all.
Question: What stretch have you been avoiding that maybe you need to embrace?
