Elastic Love

Do you remember the game Elastics?
When I was a kid there was always an Elastics season each year – sometime after yo-yo season and marbles season!
We used a continuous piece of elastic.
Two of us would step into the elastic circle and stretch it out into a rectangle shape with the backs of our legs.
The rest of us then took turns to complete a series of jumps and twists and tricky manoeuvres over the stretched-out elastic.
We usually chanted a rhyme as we went and the elastic would move from ankle height to knee height then waist and even neck height if you were particularly athletic!
A good elastic was a prized possession.
A good elastic was one that could stand endless stretching into various shapes.
A good elastic would ping back into shape after each stretch and it could be relied on to keep on keeping on without snapping and ruining the game!
Years after I stopped playing elastics I came across the word again while I was thinking about love.
Like many parents, I wondered how I was going to love our second child when my heart seemed full with love for our first born….it turns out it was easy …. love didn’t break or snap – it stretched and changed shape to embrace our second daughter and then our son.
Later I wondered how I could love one of our kids through a tough bunch of years. Again, it turns out that love did not break – it stretched and changed shape and our relationship was kept safe. 
This happened time and time again – in circumstances when it seemed that love would break it stretched instead and eventually I realised that this is because of God!
God’s love is elastic – always stretching and changing shape to make space for us …. prickly bits and all…. because he loves us and its relationship with us that God is always pursuing!
Take a look around you – who needs to experience God’s elastic love from you this week?
  

Karen Siggins