I have been thinking a lot about stretching lately. You know those times when we are moved outside our comfort zone and asked (forced? compelled? ha ha! ) to do things that push us beyond our personally predetermined limits. Sometimes these stretching moments are grandiose and life shattering, and other times they are so small but still seemingly significant. Whatever the scale may say, all these stretching moments have one purpose: To teach and foster growth.
Depending on the circumstance, I am not typically at my best during those moments. I privately wallow in self pity and wonder how long it will last. I relate stretching to pregnancy and the marks it leaves behind. I have been pregnant three times and given birth to three good sized babies. They have given me much as a mother, and every morning in the mirror I see the ever present physical reminder that I carried them for nine solid months. Proof of the adversity and sacrifice for bringing life into this world. And not wanting to sound anymore like a martyr, I am thankful for them. Thankful for the reminder that something so excruciating and difficult produced something so sacred and beautiful. (But do they have to look like train tracks??!!)
I think that's what life is like. Only we don't often get to carry the physical proof around with us. There is this talk, however, which reminds us that:
To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end he is there to save us, and for all this he gave his life. However dim our days may seem they have been darker for the Savior of the world.
In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord... has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you. It is the wounded Christ who is the captain of our soul—he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice, the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.
A few weeks ago I was called to a new position at church and while I don't by any means equate this new calling with pain and suffering, it has offered me serious insights into stretching and moving outside of my comfort zone. During my last Sunday teaching the adults in the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class, I led a discussion on the experiences of Joseph Smith imprisoned in the prison-temple of the ironically named Liberty jail, and I realized how much adversity and life stretching moments really are for our own good. Sure, it's easy for me to say that now when my life is at long last "normal", but knowing of The Lord's promise that "all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good" brings hope and assurance that despite the battle scars and the stretching, whether purely physical or excruciatingly emotional, there are always good things to come.
(PS If you have any ideas for fun and inspiring Young Women activities, please share.)
(PSS After reading over this post, it is obvious that I am the queen of linkage, especially when it comes to sharing things from Elder Jeffrey Holland. Click on each link and let me tell ya, your life will change for the better!)