Imagine That! {Messy Monday}

A sssshhhhhhhhhup! tore through the air as I removed the adhesive backing from her comforter. I took a step toward her bedroom door.

"My sticker!"

I stopped. I held up the tag. "This?"

"Yeah! My sticker!"

I tried hard (really hard) not to sigh exasperation at my three-year-old as I handed her back her "sticker." You know those sticky tags they put on the back of clothes that tell their size? The kind I would always forget to take off and so wear ignorantly all day long? 

That cute little "Jumping Beans" sticker that makes shopping at Kohl's just a little too easy- that was her sticker. She smiled sweetly and clutched it close. She slept with a tag.

It's been a while since I have posted about this child, but she has a knack for inspiring me.

Maybe it's the fact that I can go on a rampage around the house about missing puzzle pieces (and honestly, some of these puzzles have 9 pieces- 9), and fifteen minutes later she'll walk up to me right properly and ask, "Would you like a piece of candy, Sweetheart?"

"Why yes please. I would love a piece of candy."

Her petite fingers will yank open the hot pink zipper, slide into the silky Hello Kitty bag, and pull out... the missing puzzle piece. "It's candy."

Maybe it's that I have several misshapen diaper boxes around the house because they have been stuffed with pillows and other amenities to make her rocket trip that much more comfortable.

Or maybe it's because she fills up her chair cushion swimming pool with a wii remote hose.

Whatever it is in her that inspires me, one thing is certain- she has imagination. Praise God for that. It's that imagination that keeps her occupied right now as I write. I'm writing from a forest, in case you were wondering. 

Anyone who knows her knows that she is my biggest challenge, but today that's a positive thing. Because her imagination is pushing me to see past myself. 

God, the Author and Creator, and the Author of Creativity does this all the time. He pushes me to see past myself. He sees what can be, what will be, and when I take a moment to listen to Him I am just dandy. But so often I stand at the bottom of the mountain. I see the incline and think I am out of shape. I see the boulders and think There's no way I'm getting over those things. I see the brush, the crevices, the struggle and think I just can't handle that. 

And that's exactly when God calls down from the mountain, down from where visibility is at it's maximum, and says, I already have. He's already been there. But love is not far off. Love climbs back down. Love comes close. Love doesn't tell me, "You can handle it." Love tells me, "I can handle it." And then Love makes a way for me. 

When it comes to imagination, our problem is not that we don't have any. It's that we limit it. We must learn that somewhere along the way. Our lives are too small. And so is our God. We might not say it in those words exactly, but we confess it in our worries.

What if we imagined bigger? What if, instead of seeing our lives as a sum of so many parts, we believed God's word when it tells us, 

"Behold I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:1) 

What if God became the variable that caused our sum to grow exponentially? I guess there is some math in the Bible:)

I don't have the biggest family, the biggest words, or the biggest following. But I do have the biggest God. The only God. And do you know what else He says to us? 

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." 

(Isaiah 43:1)

I have those words sitting on the window ledge by my kitchen sink to remind me that God knows my name. He has redeemed me personally. Which means He loves me. Which means I have absolutely nothing to fear because He has both mercy and might. 

The same holds true for you! Read God's words to you, His child, and know that He has called you by name, and redeemed you completely. He did it out of love for you, and there is nothing to fear. Imagine that!

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Today I am linking up with Angie at Inspire Me Monday! Stop over and read some great stuff!