Tape Measure Transformation
My husband and I attended our 20-year class reunion over the weekend and enjoyed the chance to get to know old friends in a new season. The following day, when a friend from church asked me how our graduating class had changed over the past two decades, I responded with a smile, “Nobody seemed to be carrying tape measures any more.”
She grinned as she remembered with me my youngest son’s obsession with tape measures. When Joshua was a toddler he accessorized every outfits with a bulky silver tape measure. Clipped on to his waistband or hooked through a belt loop, the shiny carpenter’s tool was handy for appraising just about anything- toy tractors, cereal boxes, diaper pails and skateboards. Despite the fact that the measurements were useless to a two-year-old who has no grasp of numbers, Joshua spent much of his day measuring random items of interest.
“Would you like a bowl of cereal for breakfast?” I might ask as my sleepy-head stumbled into the kitchen.
“Maybe, if it’s seventy-seven,” he would reply as he whipped out the tape measure clipped to his pajama pants and carefully assessed the size of the bowl.
“Shall we read a book before I tuck you in?”
“Yeah, ‘cause I like books that are thirteen-ten,” my assessor would respond.
Sadly, my toddler’s nonsensical tools of evaluation weren’t that unlike the ones we carried in those big-haired- years of high school. While my toddler’s tool of assessment dangled on his belt loop, ours dangled dangerously in our minds. Josh may have measured cereal bowls and book covers, but we measured one another’s appearance, awards, and popularity. Without a doubt, our assessments were just as meaningless as my silly toddler’s ridiculous numbers, but far more harmful.As I glanced around the room on Saturday night at my near-forty-year-old classmates, I was struck by the realization that many of the women who had graduated with me long ago had actually grown more beautiful with time. The years may have added a few wrinkles to our aging faces, but two decades of growing comfortable in our own (albeit saggy) skin have smoothed the lines of comparison and reminded us that a smile is a far better accessory than a measuring tape!
And perhaps, like me, some of my classmates have learned the life-changing truth I wished I known as a self-conscious-teen: The only ruler worth carrying is the stick of grace plucked straight from Calvary’s cross.
The Overflow: Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. John 1:16
Lunch with a beautiful friend sounds marvelous 🙂
I have my 20 year this year too! I hardly believe it has been that long. But I have to agree…most of my friends are more beautiful! The world wants us to think youth is beauty…I think life is beautiful..and all it brings!!!
The Lords plan is perfect…we may not be…but the plan is…and he planned us to grow old! Kind of cool!
Let’s plan lunch next week!