Standing Tall


 

As I walked toward the rising sun, this flowering plant stood tall along the roadside. I had somehow missed its blooming; it seemed the transition happened instantly. I always noticed the green plant, but when had it sprung up and doubled its height? What a change! How straight and tall it stands!
One of the joys of being a pastor is that I watch people grow. The beginning of the new school year always brings home the reality of how quickly people change. Little kids aren’t little anymore. Big kids aren’t starting a new year of high school but are off to college as young adults, leaving an empty place behind in my heart. After the summer, I find myself looking eye to eye, or looking up to, little boys I used to fist bump on their way into the building. Like the plant on the side of the road. they literally burst forth in growth and transformation.
Isaiah writes, “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
God is in the growing business. We are all changing. We are all alive. We all have the potential to spring up into what is next for us, to spring up in righteousness and praise. This is what we are created to do. And when we open ourselves to God at work within us, it shows. We can grow to be the means through which God reminds the world of God’s presence and love. In these days, we need to see such people standing tall by the side of the road.
Peace.

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