An
Inkling
Many
homes have one: the closet doorframe,
marked with the measure of junior’s growth over the years. I remember surveying the various spans of my
growth, and proudly imagining just how tall I would grow.
An
even bigger payoff came when we visited my grandparents twice a year. As we arrived they would ooh and aah over how
much my brother and I had grown. In
those moments no one had to tell me to stand up straight. I was already stretching.
When
I reached my full height, somewhere around 15, there was a sense of
satisfaction. I was fully grown, and
best of all, I was now taller than my dad!
But there was also a sense of loss – no more growth to anticipate. No more oohs and aahs. No sense of stretching.
For
long years I’ve pondered on a phrase in Ephesians 4, where Paul describes God’s
growth goal for us: “the measure of the
full stature of Christ.” Wow! That’s up there! God is much more ambitious for our stature
than I would ever be for myself. And I’m
sure that he is much clearer than I am about how we could be so measured – “the
full stature of Christ.” Double wow!
Lately
I’ve been reading Tom Ashbrook’s Mansions
of the Heart, an exposition of Teresa of Avila’s great account of our
growth in Christ. Her seven “mansions”
are like marks on the doorframe – most of which have come for me long after my
physical span was set. It has given me a
glimpse of how God has grown me over the years, and of how much more growth
there is yet to reach the “full stature.”
So
I find myself stretching. It’s not as if
growth is something I do, so much as it happens by God’s design, just as did my
physical growth. But I’m stretching in
anticipation. Even at 57 God is not finished
growing me up! Or you! And the measure he has in mind – triple
wow! May it be that the angels ooh and
aah for us all.
Blessings,
Keith
