My boys love showing me how "big their muscles are;" on command their arms fly up with bent elbows and tight fists. Yet, I can't help but notice there is zero flexing involved. I myself have never been very good at showing off my biceps until I started picking up twenty-pound babies in their thirty-pound car seats. It takes practice, but it's easy to forget how to flex if you stop using a given muscle.
Whenever things start to feel a little too smooth around our house (i.e. everyone is healthy, everyone is sleeping through the night, their is more space between our doctors appointments, and our therapists have only positive feedback), I begin to feel as if my life is too easy. I yearn for a challenge, not because I'm a glutton for punishment, but rather because I don't want to lose my metaphoric muscles. I know that challenges ebb and flow depending on the season of life, but I'm speaking to the really hard unexpected things that rock your world and force you to flex muscles you never knew existed.
I admire those people who search out ways to strengthen and grow themselves before tragedy forces such stretching. When we openly invite opportunities to inconvenience us, press us, or make us uncomfortable, we draw near to the One who helps us in ways that bring on bulky biceps. Whether it's foster care, elderly parent care, or simply neighborly care, when we give of ourselves and get rid of our personal comfortable agenda, we can maintain the right perspective when the daily "normal hard" hits us. Instead of lamenting about my preschooler's attitude or my infant's blow-out diaper all over my pants, I can laugh at the days to come because my tolerance is greater. My previous circumstantial "work outs" have prepared me to tackle life with the correct mindset. The barometer at which I view soreness infiltrates through the ranks as I see the world's pain.
I know that I am easily enticed to sit back and rest with "deserved" pleasure, but I want to buck that system because I've seen how it weakens my immunity. I want to revel in God's design for surrendering and enjoy more of life's pleasures by enjoying more of my own self-discipline. It is only through Christ's example that I can hope to grow in obedience to His will for my life. I just hope that I don't ever forget how to flex.
My growing boys are continuing to help me flex too...
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| All three? Could it really be? |
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| Look who grew enough hair for a single blond hawk!? |
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| Look who wore his first pair of footy pajamas (in the dead of summer!) |
Their is something exhausting about having your children all under two years apart, but their is something equally as sweet!
~Muscle Buster
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