When Flarp Loves Carpet

I know, you’re probably wondering what in the WORLD am I talking about? Let me explain.

So Mazy loves Flarp. If you’ve never heard of it, it is one of the strangest man-made creations you’ll ever encounter, but also get much laughter out of. I mean, who doesn’t giggle when some extra air exits the body, which was meant to be discreetly, but often is the SBD (silent but deadly) of the day? Flarp comes in this plastic container, has a slimy/gooey texture, and when taken out, and put back in forcefully, this gaseous and ridiculous sounds often results. Let one mind’s imagine for a minute. And I tell you, a little 4-year-old, can’t get enough of this stuff, and yet I find myself giggling like a little school girl, every time.

Well, I tell Mazy to only play with it by her little table. One day, she was “cooking” with it at her play kitchen, and sure enough, it landed on the floor, aka carpet. And I didn’t find it until hours later! Needless to say, it was absolutely caked in the carpet, and the pieces I were able to get out of the carpet immediately, left a pink stain. Lovely.

We had a little teaching moment, and I was certain it wouldn’t happen again. And then I made slime, and sure enough, some of that ended up on our rug in the dining room. Lovely. But actually, I was able to get most of the Flarp and the slime out, with few remnants.

So what’s my point? I often find that the little incidences that happen in life, often have a spiritual twist to them, if we are willing to look for them. As I was rubbing and scrubbing the Flarp out of the carpet, I couldn’t believe how it had engulfed each carpet fiber. But I can’t help but wonder, is that what my faith and God look like? So engulfed, so entangled, so melded together, that there is no way to separate them?

Flarp gets MESSY. And kind of sticky in a way. Like I said, it’s really quite the strange creation. But my spiritual life is the same – it’s messy. Kind of sticky sometimes. Though even after all of the hardships, struggles, and wrestlings, I don’t want that faith to let go of God, like I want Flarp to let go of that carpet.

So many things vie for our attention. Hardships make us question God’s goodness. Trials try to steal and scrub away our joy in God. But don’t let anyone, anything, or any circumstance, scrub long enough that you start to lose that messy and sticky faith. God wants our messy thoughts. Our questions. Our doubts. Our wonderings. Our dreams. Our desires. He wants ALL of us. He wants us to be so in love with Him – but do we have that same desire?

Our house gets messy. Flarp and slime land in the carpet. And ya know what? It is, what it is. And I’m so thankful that God continues to wrap His arm around me, even when my faith gets sticky and messy. He continues to love me despite, and I can’t help but love Him, all the more.