As Far As I Know

This morning I am thinking about the wonderful time I had reading to some precious preschoolers last Monday.  While engaging in small talk with one class, a little girl shared with me that she was four years old.  Another child said, “I’m four, too!”  Then, almost in chorus, several others chimed in, “I’m four, too,” with some holding up four fingers to show me.  They eyed me curiously when I said, “Well, I’m not four.”  One brave soul asked, “How old are you?”  Just for fun, I answered her question with a question:  “How old do you think I am?”  I was charmed and amused when a few of them guessed that I was about five or six.  But, then, one brave little boy shouted out confidently, “You’re seventeen!”  I have to say, I got up from my chair and gave that child a high five.  Although he was off by a few decades, I got the idea that his sense of number may have been a bit more developed than the others.  He knew I had to be much older than five or six, and as far as he knew seventeen was a pretty big number!  I find it’s not so unusual for very young children to base such estimates on their egocentric frame of reference.  All they have to rely on, after all, is the benchmark of their limited experience.  What occurs to me is that I tend to do the same thing when it comes to my walk of faith.  Somewhat like the question I posed to that class of four-year-olds, there are questions presented to me by my great and awesome God when I pray:  “How mighty do you think I AM?  How much do you think I love you?  How far do you think I will go to prove that I AM faithful?”  Quite honestly, my answers are often based on my own limited frame of reference…that is, the things I’ve experienced in my life thus far.  With certain prayers and petitions I’ve made to God, I felt like I was stretching my faith, vision and imagination to the max.  As far as I know, those were some pretty bold requests!  But, I’m smiling right now as I imagine God giving me a high five and saying, “Nice try, but you are WAY off!”  I am filled with a sense of excitement and wonder as I perceive that the things He has purposed for me to be, to know, to have, and to do far exceed anything I have experienced yet.  So, my heartfelt prayer today is that my eyes will be opened.  As far as I know, I have been incredibly blessed, and I am truly thankful.  Still, I don’t have to be bound by the benchmark of my current experience.  By faith, I desire to see and embrace what lies beyond the pain, the disappointments, the doubts and, yes, even beyond the pleasures, the successes, and the joys I have known so far.  Beyond what I know or have ever imagined, even greater things await me.  I am ready to receive.