Muchness

A great friend of mine convinced me that I had to watch Alice in Wonderland.  Maybe it was the Johnny Depp lover in her or maybe it was the grilled mango in me (complements of a most delicious BBQ) but I was easily persuaded.  It was a great movie with amazing effects and awesome one-liners (so much so that I just downloaded the book).

One of my favorite lines was a statement made by The Mad Hatter, directed toward Alice: "You used to be much more...'muchier.'  You've lost your muchness."

Sometimes I wonder if I have lost my muchness.  I feel like I used to be braver, smarter, faster, thinner (so I guess that means in this area I have added to my muchness), socialer (yeup, that is SO a word), fearlesser (also a word), aliver (mmmhmmm).

So what does it take to get ones muchness back?  Alice needed an adventure, a reason, a mission, a quest!

I look at my life and almost get lightheaded with gratitude.  The life I have been given is full, so very full.  Full of love, family, friends, faith, food, education, comfort, laughter, fun, learning, down pillows and hoodies.

Some people have trials draped across their shoulders one after another after another.  Yes, I have had trials but often they are of my own choosing.  And I am not talking about sin that brings trials, I'm talking about Heavenly Father allowing me to choose what hard things I get to bring into my life.  Not always, but sometimes.  Sometimes He whispers that I am losing some of my muchness (That seed of godliness is ALWAYS there.  But sometimes we forget about it.  We allow it to lay dormant rather than water it and will it to dig deep its roots and reach high its branches).  Sometimes, I choose the lazy way or the easy way and sometimes that makes me soft.  And so I start to panic and worry and realize it is time for another adventure, a reason, a mission, a trial, a quest!

These quests often come in small packages and can be taken metaphorically. But sometimes they are exactly what the name suggests, "a significance-laden journey" (thanks wiki).  And the time has come again.  I have become too comfortable.  I have become soft.  I have started loosing some of my muchness.  Do you feel a new quest taking shape?  Yeah, me too.

I wish I was the kind of person who didn't need a change of circumstance to make me muchier.  I admire people who find the quest within and then just do it.  Occasionally, I find it inside of me without changing the outside of me but not this time.  This time, Heavenly Father has led me to a "significance-laden journey."  I am moving again.  Not too far.  I'm not jumping ship but I am definitely getting in over my head. And if this doesn't make me muchier, I don't know that anything can.