growing

My son is 13 years old and can be quite animated - something i am usually not. Early this morning he called me at work shouting on the phone in expressions of joy, triumph, celebration - absolute, unbridled shouts of praise and victory. The news - he is now 72 inches tall - yes, 6 feet. Growing is always on his mind, constantly measuring and checking even as he eats us out of house and home! Of course all this rapid, wild growth - which shows no signs of slowing down - comes with wide ranging emotions, tiredness, shoes that never fit and everything else you get with an adolescent..... BUT - it is filled with fun, refreshment, wonder,  uncertainty, newness, the unexpected ... it is the picture of LIFE.

I have been considering how easy it is to let that way of living slip away, to get buried in stuff and the passing of time. In reading the Gospels and Acts - it is like watching my son grow - so much going on - yes, the young believers make mistakes but God is on the move and they are chasing after Him. When we jump to the book of Revelation we see some pictures of a church that has lost much of that - Jesus calls them to stir up their love afresh!

Does the church need faithful, grounded, steady people slowly plodding along - absolutely - and a good thing too since that is probably me. But we also need those who are like my son - noticing each fresh move of the spirit, seeing opportunities for new growth, full of ideas and the desire to make them come alive, on the edge a bit sometimes but for all the right reasons. What does it mean to be a church - a body - it means to be alive, growing, changing, discovering, - and all the while we are looking to Jesus - the Chief Shepherd, our center - who calls us on.