The Measuring Game
The rain was really coming down the other day, all day long. I wondered what my neighbor would say the measurable rainfall was. That’s her thing; measurable rainfall.
It got me thinking about how many things we measure in life and by what variable of standards. For instance, the value of a new car is often measured by the name of the manufacturer and what the price tag says. The quality of a school is measured by the economics of the neighborhood it serves. Gourmet brownies are measured by the richness of the chocolate and butter used in the ingredients.
We, as mere human beings, measure each other up for all kinds of criteria. The desirableness of a suitor may be measured by his income, his looks, his weight, or his age. Woman are far too often measured strictly by appearance. Friendships are often measured by how much time is spent together, or by favors that are granted or gifts given and received. They are too often valued by what one person can do for another as far as socially advancing another, or advancing them professionally. There are work friends, church friends, shopping friends and work out friends, all working hard to measure up.
The value of everything in our world is measured against a worldly criteria. Even the value of human life. Apparently, the lives of people who have become famous because of their jobs as actors are much more important than the lives of people who have not become famous because of their jobs as teachers. Same can be said for the value of a doctors life over that of a vagrants. Worldly accomplishments set the standard for the measuring bar.
Is this right? A disabled child is measured by his or her ability to function as “normally” as possible, the standard of normal being set by worldly expectations. Does this make the disabled child less important than a “normal” child? We can ask ourselves similar questions regarding the elderly. Is the life of a fifty year old more valuable than the life of an eighty year old? Life is life, right?
It’s a conundrum, the way we measure things in our world. Any thoughts?
Later,
Mary Ann
Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
The true measure of a man (or woman, or child) can never be determined by another human being. Only by God who sees what no one else can see.
Well said.
What if our measurement of another is off by a little bit? What are the consequences? Would they not measure up to our pre-conceived notion? Would we then miss out on a potentially wonderful relationship?
Measurements are seldom exact…especially the first go at the measurement. Would we adhere to the old adage to measure twice and cut once or go with only the first result of our possibly biased opinion? I wonder….
Carolyn
We should be more concerned with our character than our reputation or how we measure up. Our character is what we really are, while our reputation is merely what others think we are.