Sometimes we Stretch Ourselves

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone already...this really has felt like a vanishing year for me. Yet there is a whole lot of life experience packed in the midst of the quickness of the passing days. As I mentioned last week I feel I've been facing a lot of repeats that I thought I had already "conquered" so to speak, yet here they are and they still make me squirm a bit. But I guess in the big scheme of things squirming versus complete despair and melt down really is an improvement. Which really is an encouraging thought, so then I think perhaps I have more figured out then I thought I did. Many times this week, many more times than I care to count, the thought entered my mind, "you know what, this is easier than it used to be, way to go, maybe things won't be so bad..." If you ever really want to invite more opposition into your life just say things are going better than expected. Now when I say this I don't mean it in a negative way, I just mean that life is meant to stretch us and about the time we say we've figured something out something more stretching needs to come along so that we can keep stretching and growing.

Last week my message referenced that this life is a test and as I just said this life is meant to stretch us. Often this will mean experiences enter into our lives to give us those stretching moments, so at those times we buckle up and keep moving forward. Yet sometimes we are invited into growing moments by our own volition, not because of circumstances.

Sometimes as we face a trial or new circumstances we can become complacent as we see that something that used to tear at our heart is now simply a minor inconvenience or as we have incorporated a new routine or are working to a new goal we feel we have stretched ourselves and can thus wait while others catch up. But as I have discovered that isn't how this works. If we are not progressing then we are regressing. On occasion the Lord invites us to take stock of our situation and see how we think we are doing. He wants us to work with Him to see how we might grow and improve. It is so important to have a perspective of consistent forward progress. It is a delightful thing to reach a goal or to see something come to fruition in our lives and have a sense of satisfaction in having completed a task and having done it well. Yet after breathing that in for a moment and enjoying it, then it is time to take it to the Lord and ask how we can improve upon that success and ask what it is that we can be striving for next. It is not mete to be commanded in all things and what a blessing and gift that sometimes Heavenly Father allows us the privilege to stretch ourselves. It is a dangerous thing to believe that we have learned all that we need to or have completed that part of our journey. Heavenly Father needs a prepared people, sometimes He sends things to prepare us and sometimes He is hoping that we are listening and asking what we can do more to make those steps closer to Him and His purposes.
    It is a blessing and gift to be able to reach a point where select trials and tribulations are easier to cope with than they used to be. It is an even greater blessing and gift that upon realizing that we keep seeking to learn and grow and to extend ourselves to keep learning and keep seeking light and knowledge.