GETTING SMALLER (From the Archive)

A Dramatic Moment from TOTAL IMPACT Vol. 2 Issue 8 originally published in August 1994

I’m fairly positive that the only occupation more dangerous than being a crocodile wrangler is being a child. I’ve been a professional child now for twenty-four years and it has just recently started getting stressful. My greatest concern used to be learning how to climb. Now, I spend all my time worrying about falling down.

The climbing process is never truly studied by a child. It is merely a curiosity we are born to conquer. Every child knows that if there is anything extraordinary in life, it is higher than you are: the cookie jar, Heaven, Dad’s wallet, Michael Jordan. The best spy location was on the roof. The best job was in the helicopter. The best view was on Dad’s shoulders. And the luckiest person in the room got to put the star on the tree. It didn’t take a whole lot of parental prodding to learn to aim for higher things.

Sometimes, I think the only reason we stopped aiming is because most of us think we’ve caught up. Let’s face it. When you’re young, you’re denied a lot of things. You can’t drive. You can’t vote. You can’t get married. Most people think this is because children are young. Maybe it’s because they’re short.

Society has never really taken to the small. Consider the English language. When one is sick, they are under the weather. When one is upset, they are down. When they’re mean, they’re low. When I don’t like them, they are beneath me. Even the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short. The small have never quite arrived because they’re always trying their darndest just to get up.

But, isn’t that just the point?

Didn’t the same Savior who said “suffer the little children to come to me” also tell us that we would never enter the kingdom of Heaven unless we came as a child? Not in our pompous achievement of heavenly height, but in our forever struggle to touch the stars. As a renown scholar once noted: there are only three ways to climb a tree: befriend a very large bird, sit on an acorn, or keep reaching.

I adored being a child, though it was indeed dangerous. I obtained several soiled shins falling from the unbalance of my reach. But, because of those bruises, I’m still climbing - all the while staring at the One bruised for me. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to take myself less seriously and Him more seriously. I’ll be able to decrease as He increases. And maybe one day, I’ll finally understand the importance of climbing and the true joy of getting smaller.

---

Next: “NaCl: the Saline Solution” A Dramatic Moment from TOTAL IMPACT Vol. 2 Issue 9 originally published in September 1994