I bet most kids had a growth chart when they were young. My parents hung ours on the wall and my brother and I would stand against the wall as they marked our height with the date. I would always spin around quickly to see how much I grew since our last measurement. We always wanted to be taller and so when my brother finally passed my mom in height, it was a good day for him. It was easy for us to love growth as kids. I suppose adults don’t find the same satisfaction when their growth is measured because often times the only growth they see is in the increase of their weight.
But there is something that still fascinates me about growth. I get excited to see people get taller and I get excited when people change and become something better. For me, life is about growth.
You could only imagine the anticipation that filled my mind as I opened my favorite piece of mail that comes all the way from Mozambique, Africa once a year. It was the Namanjavira ADP Annual Progress Report. In usual fashion, I hurried as I opened the letter, hoping the report was good.
To summarize what I read:
Felizardo just turned six years old. His health is good and he is in 2nd grade. He attends Sunday School and Sunday Mass. His favorite hobbies are soccer and jacks in box. But most importantly, through World Vision, his family received mosquito nets this year.
I looked at the picture to the left and there he stood, dressed with the shirt that I sent him and the same pair of shoes he wore when I met him last year. He is posing with a thumbs up and a much happier look on his face. His skin and hair look healthy and he is so much taller than last year.
Meeting Felizardo changed my life and seeing his progress in the last year reminds me of the belief I have in World Vision to help change kids’ lives. But then it reminds me of the belief I have in a Big God who loves to work the impossible for people. Although it’s difficult to gauge the rate of growth against impossible things, I know that’s part of the mysteriousness of God. And I have to trust that if a shirt I mail from Minnesota can find it’s way onto the back of a six-year old boy all the way into the deep villages of Mozambique, then surely God can do a big work in a home of two people who have forgotten what it feels like to stand against the wall as a child to see how much they’ve grown. Because whether you’re six years old or 60, becoming a better you is something we all want in life and though sometimes it is hard to see progress, often times, other people can see what you cannot see. And when the progress reports are submitted, you too will see that hope is alive in what once seemed so impossible to score on the growth charts.
