Article January 2, 1984 Issue

The true measure of our progress

JOANNE LEEDOM-ACKERMAN

The baby reached for the bright pink ball on the floor in front of him. Unable to grasp it, he lifted to his knees and tried. Slowly he began to pull himself toward the ball. Finally with his fingertips he touched it, only to push it away. Again he pulled along the floor, and again he pushed the ball from himself. He looked up at his mother for help; but she just smiled and assured him he was doing very well, and he returned to his pursuit. With further effort, he triumphantly caught it.

From the baby's point of view, he was trying to grasp a bright object, but the mother knew he was really learning to crawl. Because she understood the larger lesson, she was not disturbed by what appeared to be a struggle, nor did she feel the need to step in and hand the ball to the child.

Sometimes we, too, find ourselves in a struggle for an object we want—acceptance to college, a job, a promotion, a home. We go through steps that seem necessary to attain the goal: we work hard, take tests, set up interviews, make contacts. Yet sometimes the goal remains out of reach. Perhaps the need is to consider what is actually going on and to ask how we are measuring progress. Do we see ourselves as caught up in frustrating activity? Do we view progress by our own outline of what should be happening? If the answer to these questions is yes, then we need to stop and understand how God is viewing man and what His true purpose for man is.

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