Giants

Tiny pencil marks could be found on the door frame. They indexed the growth of a child. Thomas was always anxious to see how much he had grown since the last measure was taken. He was proud when the new marks rose above the old ones but they never rose enough. He wanted to be taller—as tall as the giants that lived around him.

I remember the giants that lived around me when I was growing up. Their height was imposing and I wanted to one day stand as tall, to see them eye to eye; but I don’t think I really knew why. Perhaps now I do, and it really wasn’t their height I wanted to match. It was their stature in life.

The giants were my teachers. Not the ones in the classrooms (though some of them are on the list), but the ones that I looked to for protection and wisdom. They worked at ordinary jobs, reared families of their own, faced economic struggles, endured injuries and illnesses, and fought in wars. But through it all, they shared their laughter, they celebrated victories, they played games, and were always bearers of love. Those were the giants in my life and I wanted to stand as tall as they did.

Those giants stand tall still today in my life. Time has taken most of them into the arms of God, but they live on in my mind and they are just as alive there as they ever were. And they are still giants. Even though life has since revealed some of their failings to me, those failings have not diminished their stature. The failings make them human and their stature approachable. But I still look up to them for the wisdom they shared, the good neighbors they were, and the love they gave me. Those were the qualities that made them giants in my life.

The pencil marks on my door frame still falls short of the mark they made. They were giants after all. But I see them now more clearly. With the laughter they shared, the victories they celebrated, the games they played, and the love they gave they were reflecting Jesus through their lives. And I know now that’s what made them giants.

So, maybe there is a way to measure up. When there is laughter to share, victories to celebrate, games to play, good neighbors to be, and love to give, those are the marks on the door to grow a little taller. And even if living life that way doesn’t measure up to the giants we would like to be, it is a simple way to reflect the Savior.

And that is what Jesus asks us to do. 

You are the light of the world,

Richard+

www.reflectingthesavior.org