Room to Move

WE HAVE MOVED!!! It was a bigger chore than I could have imagined, even with the great amounts of help from our family! I spent all last week cleaning... And cleaning gives me LOTS of time to think. ;) Our old house was 1350 square feet, and the new house is 1920 square feet. As I was trying to shampoo MORE of the carpet (we went from almost NO carpet, to LOTS of carpet!) toward the end of the week, I realized that this is almost fifty percent more house than I had before! And as I continued to ponder, I just had to laugh at myself because most of our "stuff" has been crammed into a couple of rooms... rather than spreading it out evenly. And I was reminded of when my babies were born. If you've ever seen a newborn, you know that it takes several days for them realize that they have room to move, and to begin to stretch out their arms and legs. You also know that babies don't reach out for their parents right away. If the child is in need, he cries. Then the parent has to come to him or her. I started thinking about that in relation to rebirth and the Christian walk.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:1-6

I thought about my tendency to curl in on myself when I am in need, rather than running to my Father. I thought about how He comes to me and carries me when I am in need... and I'm in need A LOT!!! But I began to realize that reaching for my God when I am in pain, or stressed, or in need, is a sign of growth! And I've got PLENTY of room to grow! =)

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation-- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:2-5
 
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16