Back in the early years of our marriage, my husband and I began collecting trading cards for The Lord of the Rings board/card game.
The only card I really remember was called Thin and Stretched. It was a condition put on the Frodo or Sam card to limit its usefulness, and try to get it removed from the game.
Why, you might wonder, do I remember just this particular card?
Well, I have often identified with how it’s defined.
Life tends to do that to me.
Relationships do that to me.
My health and my body do that to me, too.
The last few weeks my heart has definitely been stretched, and in some instances maybe thinned as well.
It was so filled with joy and contentment while all of my kids and their spouses got to visit.
It has been soooooooo stttrrreeeeetched by those visiting having to go back to their far away homes.
Then several other people moved away.
One of my dearest friends moved away yesterday.
And God took my mom-in-law Home to be with Him…
I miss her.
😭
I miss my friend.
I miss my students that had to move.
It’s like God purged out many of the people I care most about, while He gave me special time with my kids and their spouses that live way too far away.
I’ve decided to be nice to me and take some time to adjust and heal, let the sadness be wrung out with a little set-apart time.
Ow!
❤️🩹
I can feel that temptation to avoid this pain happening again, that temptation to isolate myself, to build walls to keep the hurt of people leaving again away.
But I’ve decided that, instead, I’ll retreat for a bit, dust myself off, and find new people to let in to my heart, for however long God lets them be close.
God has made my heart malleable— able to be stretched thin, filled, emptied— like a new wineskin that won’t easily break.
Hard to believe now that I used to have a heart like stone, from abuse and mis-use.
God has truly worked His miracles and healing in me.
Jemtree's Heart 
exactly how I’ve been feeling this year also
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It’s been hard for sure… moments of such sweetness spending time with the kids, but with that the bitterness of saying farewell again for however long until next time.
And yet we’d never say “well it would have been better if they didn’t visit, if we didn’t have that time.” Right?
I think that’s how I will choose to feel about the friendships and farewells too… It’s better to have met and come to know and care about the people who have to move on, better than if we’d never had that time. That’s the hope I want to bring into connecting with the new people around us.
And as one friend was careful to say, in Christ we know that it’s “see you later.” We can’t be sure when, but we can be sure there’s coming a precious “later.”
I love you and I love your heart. I hope when it feels thin and stretched I can wrap my arms around it and squeeze it back into shape even just a little bit. ❤️🩹
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Well, now I expect those hugs from you. Often 🤗 🥰 🫂👩❤️👨
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