Sunday, February 5, 2012

How tall will you be?

Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see.
William Newton Clarke

I just need to know when it is going to end is a common statement by one experiencing a trial of their faith. How long will a childless couple be expected to pray for a baby before they feel hope is lost?  An out of work father just needs to know where and when he will receive a break so that he will be able to feed his family again. The longing for companionship, the desire for the return of a wayward child, and the restored health of a loved one are common prayers uttered every day by good, kind people. No one is immune to heartache. And no one really gets to know how and when it will end

My son LOVES to play basketball. And that is a sport where height matters. He is fourteen years old, wears a size 13 shoe, and already noticeably taller than anyone in our family. When he is finally done with all the growing pains and middle of the night charley horses, he wonders how tall he might actually become. My husband recently found out about a procedure that involves x-raying the bones in the hand and determining through the expected growth of those bones how tall an individual will become. For a moment, he thought it might be fun to find out if our son could be of NBA stature.

What if he is done growing, or better yet, what if he will be 6 foot 8 inches tall? Would that knowledge alter his choices now? If he was to find out today that he has reached his maximum height, I believe that his hopes for the future would be significantly altered, and his desire and willingness to work hard toward his basketball goals would dissipate. He just might give up on his potential because he might be disappointed about his future. But, what if the opposite happened, and he was told he will grow an additional 8 inches. Many basketball players are simply content to be tall and never realize how truly great they could be because they rely more on their height than hard work.

If we knew how and when our trials would end, we would miss out on the personal growth achieved by working towards our desired goal because we might just simply endure until it is over. Praying with more fervency, relying on faith, and recognizing my strength and potential are blessings that would be missed if I simply waited for the current difficulty to pass. Each time I experience hardship, I have the opportunity to grow and stand a little taller. Some days I welcome new growth and experiences, and other days I think that I am tall enough.

1 comment:

Holly Strong said...

All I can say is "I needed this blog post today." Doesn't make life any easier, but I need to remember that I'm not as tall as I need to be. Drats!