Up The Wall

Cross posted from Christian Republic.

When I was a kid, we had a wall in our house with short, horizontal dashes scrawled on it in pencil. Right beside these tell-tale marks were dates and initials. These dashes were milestones of our growth. Every time I’d stand with my back to the wall, waiting anxiously for my mother to draw a new line to illustrate my new height, I’d stretch to my tallest so that my growth would be maximized. Strangely enough, these were the only days I recall noticing I’d grown.

As Christ followers, we grow every day in our new lives. However, just like children, we don’t always notice that growth, even though others around us might. Sometimes, it takes a point where our backs are against the wall, where we need to stretch to our tallest in order to measure our growth in Christ.

Why can’t we stretch to our tallest every moment of every day? Is it the weight of our world that pushes our shoulders down, compresses our spine and lowers our gaze? Or is it the evil one, knowing you grow towards that which you focus on, like a flower blooming towards the sun? If you stare at the ground, how can you grow towards Christ?

While you may have not been tall enough in your faith last week to reach for something Godly, don’t let that prevent you from reaching out today. In fact, I encourage you to consider every day as a measuring day. Where we all stretch to our tallest, rising up the wall in faith.

Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."


With God, all things are possible. While you may think it’s impossible to grasp what was once out of reach, God knows better and is simply waiting for you to stretch yourself. So, don’t wait for the next time your back is against the wall, reach for the sky today, leaving tomorrow to itself.