Going through an old journal last week was overwhelmingly encouraging as God highlighted things He had done, prayers He had answered, ways He had grown me while reminding me of so many things He had taught me through the years. Things so significant they were written out and documented forever.
One of those things was this excerpt from Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity, one of my all-time favorite books.
"Think of the self that God has given as an acorn... it is a marvelous little thing, a perfect shape, perfectly designed for its purpose, perfectly functional. Think of the grand glory of an oak tree. God's intention when He made the acorn was the oak tree. His intention for us is "...the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Many deaths must go into our reaching that measure. Many letting goes. When you look at the oak tree, you don't feel the loss of the acorn as a very great loss. The more you perceive God's purpose in your life, the less terrible the losses will see.
We (she and her future husband Jim) were being asked to trust, to leave the planning to God. God's ultimate plan was far beyond our imaginings as the oak tree is from the acorn's imaginings. The acorn does what it was made to do, without pestering its Maker with questions about when and how and why."
So here's to being more like an acorn.
