Being Stretched

A wonderful reminder from my past self to my present self…

This week is spreading me thin.

An unexpected medical bill, a to-do list that grows faster than it shrinks, a cold from my 2-year-old, and a baby that is looking to make more room where my diaphragm should be... oh, and it's only Tuesday.

I started school today 15 minutes late, before realizing that I hadn't even done the breakfast dishes. Everything after that was off, either late or out-of-place. I tried to lie down for a nap at two o'clock, but my mind would not stop racing. The image that came into my head was Elastigirl (from another one of my favorite Pixar films), her limbs being pulled in four different directions. Of course, Elastigirl has an ability that I don't have. She can make her body into a parachute, spread thin but not broken. I, on the other hand, am a piece of cloth that is stretched to the point of tearing.

But then a new image comes into my head. The piece of cloth is being pulled, and held up to the window. The sunlight shines through the pattern and sets it aglow, like a beautiful stained glass window. And that is when I understand: when I am spread thin, God can shine through me.