I hadn’t seen my friend’s 6 year old son in awhile. I was starting to catch up with him when I interrupted, “Whoa!!! You’ve grown a foot since I last saw you!” He looked at me sort of puzzled and said, “Really?” “Yes!” I said, “are you keeping marks on the wall somewhere at your house?” Even more puzzled, he asked, “What is that?”
Marks on the wall were a high priority for Kathie and me with our four children. We would regularly check their growth and celebrate each little increment upward. It seems like yesterday our kids were standing as tall as possible with their backs against the wall. We would carefully make a mark and then celebrate each little increment upward.
Everyone knows that kids grow fast, but when you are around them all the time, it can be hard to notice. My friend’s son shouted to his parents, “Dad! Mom! He said I’ve grown a foot!” They smiled. I added, “He has grown a lot!” They didn’t seem as impressed as me.
I remember hearing the story about the man who built the Taj Mahal. His name was Shah Jahan, and he was very rich. When his wife died in 1629, he placed her casket in the middle of a field and commissioned an elaborate tomb to be built around it. Over the next few years the project reached enormous dimensions, and the Shah’s grief gave way to an inordinate passion for the project. One day while he was surveying, he stumbled over a part of wooden box that had been thrown on the project’s trash heap. To his dismay, he realized that the box was part of his wife’s casket.
Whether it’s building a elaborate building or raising kids, in situations that we are around regularly, and where changes are happening over a period of time, we can miss the importance of what’s happening. What’s worse we can lose track of the purpose of why it’s happening.
“When each of us does our own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.“ (Eph 4:15-16)
Take a moment and think about the people in your life. Even though they are all on different schedules and at different stages of life, all of them are headed somewhere and changes are taking place. And all of them could benefit from your noticing their growth. You can help them grow, be healthy, and feel loved! Make a mark on their wall.
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