Gumby is stretched way too tight and just might snap!
Do you remember Gumby -the green clay guy whose best friend was a clay red talking horse named “Pokey “? I do.
My sister and I loved them. She still is annoyed that I never let her be Gumby-always the horse.
Well what was fascinating about Gumby was he was pliable. He could stretch, twist in weird directions but always came back to “normal “ and did not break. Flexible was a good word to describe Gumby and Pokey.
I find that as I get older it’s much harder to be “flexible “. I am not just talking about physically-which is usually most painful as well but emotionally and mentally. Things just do not stretch like they used to. When pulled taut they threaten to snap. And it takes a long while for me to come back to “normal “.
I used to be able to move from one thing to the next with ease- like in the army where you duck and weave -serpentine, I think it’s called. Light on your feet, moving swiftly dodging whatever was coming at you.
Lately I feel about as fast as a slug . And I’m sure I leave a little trail behind me just like they do. There is nothing particularly wonderful about a slug. A slimy lump of goo. I kinda feel like that.
When we are in a foul mood, we leave a little trail of slime behind us. It can muck and stick onto others when they run into it. We don’t mean to affect others that way but foul moods are contagious.
So what’s got me going? Well the mobile home did not come when it was supposed to this past weekend. Then the mover informed us he didn’t have a hitch for the home (you would have thought he might have mentioned that at the beginning of our conversation say 2 weeks ago).
So here I sit in my non insulated holiday trailer behaving like a chilly slug. A slimy pile of goo whining and complaining about my problems spreading my slime all over the place.
What do we do when we get ourselves worked into a dither? Is it wrong to be in a dither?
I read Psalm 8 today and one part of it spoke to my heart:
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
I’m not sure if you caught a glimpse or even stood outside in awe and wonder like I did last night, looking up at the Northern lights. They put on quite a show and were visible from the North right down to Vancouver and into the USA. Normally when I see them they are the greenish white coloured ones but last night there was coloured ones as well. They were magnificent. I feel like God is working on a canvas with a paint brush, painting the sky with the dancing moving lights. As the lights dance it’s a new brush stroke every time.
I’m going to say it: I like things to go my way and to go smoothly. When they don’t I start to get twisted up in knots, much like Gumby, not a great feeling. Sometimes I get so twisted around I think I may just snap.
Then things like the Northern Lights happen reminding me that God is quite capable to paint a sky AND still run the world, including mine with ease. He is not actually all bent out of shape, only I am. It’s my choice if I stay bent and twisted, which has never really helped any of the situations I have ever been in. Or I could choose to be a Gumby -come back to “normal “ no worse for the wear and tear of my twisty contortions.
Sometimes God gives us visible reminders of His majesty and it reminds us of Who He really is.