God is all "extra"

I love learning new phrases from the kids. Last week, I heard one of my favorites that I hadn't heard in a while. One student was standing disgruntled beside a group of peers working on a project (building a bridge out of newspaper and masking tape). I asked him,"Why aren't you participating?" He said the bridge was fine the way it was but, "Now they being all extra about it". In my kids' circles, "being extra" is a negative thing that means adding something that doesn't need to be there. In this case, the rest of the students kept adding more newspaper and tape when the student I spoke with proclaimed the bridge complete(=unnecessary work). I've heard this phrase used most when kids are having squabbles..."I told him I was sorry but then he wanted to be all extra about it" (=wouldn't accept the apology, kept remunerating about the issue)..."I told my son to sit down but then he got all extra" (=he threw a fit)..."I told Mr. ___ my feet hurt from job searching so I came back early but he wanted to get all extra about it" (=Mr. ___ chided the youth for coming back early).

I like the flip side of "extra" when it comes to God and one of my favorite things is when I find examples of positive "extra" in the Bible. God said whichever staff he chose would sprout and indicate the man he wanted to be a leader...Aaron's staff not only sprouted, but budded, blossomed, and produced almonds!?=EXTRA! Gideon asked God to wet his fleece with dew as a sign...The next day, not only was there dew, but Gideon wrung a bowlful of water out of it=EXTRA! Elijah prayed it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain...for 3 years!?=EXTRA! Think of it...the Feeding of the 5,000, the disciples catching enough fish that it almost sank the boat...Our God is a God of "extra!"

I have experienced this law of "extra" in my own life many times, always in response to prayer. It was to my delight this morning when I opened my devotional and the title was "Don't Miss God's Extras". The lesson was that we "have not because we ask not". It gave some great statements to ponder:

"I am convinced that our Father would grant us far more than our daily requirement of grace if we came boldly to His throne to receive it...There are extras...We honor Him when we expect great things from Him...He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think".

I have learned to be bold in my asks...And even when I don't ask for "extra", I find that God often grants it, almost like He's saying, "Yes, and here's more!" to remind me of how much He can do. How awesome that we have a God who is "all extra"!