\u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of God\u2019s gloriousness.<\/p>\n
If your life looks like a mess \u2013\u00a0to them<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 they whip out a measuring stick and feel confident of their own worthiness<\/strong>.<\/p>\nIf your life looks like a monument \u2013\u00a0to them<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 they whip out a measuring stick \u2013 and start cutting for their own empowerment<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\nShe leans over and I want to gather her close. I rub her back in these slow circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing is, Hon?,\u201d I knead out a tight knot in her shoulder, loosening the muscles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world isn\u2019t a forest of measuring sticks. The world is forest of burning bushes.\u00a0Everything isn\u2019t a marker to make you\u00a0feel<\/em>\u00a0behind or ahead; everything is a flame to make you\u00a0see\u00a0<\/em>GOD is here<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThat God is working through this person\u2019s life, that God is redeeming that person\u2019s life, that God is igniting this work, that God is present here in this mess, that God is using even this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hope lays her head on my shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow what, Hon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalk through life with a measuring stick \u2013 and your eyes get so small you never see God.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\nShe nods. And then whispers: \u201cWhy does anybody compare at all? Why do we do it \u2013 why do\u00a0I<\/em>\u00a0do it?\u201d<\/p>\nShe exhales this sigh like she\u2019s trying to relieves the swelling in her soul.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh girl \u2014 \u201d I want to make this all go away for her. \u201cRemember when you guys were little? And I\u2019d have a couple measuring sticks out when I was piecing together a quilt? What would you guys would do with the measuring sticks?<\/p>\n
She says it slow, laying back on the bed. \u2014 \u201cUse them as swords?\u201d<\/p>\n
Exactly.\u00a0Measuring sticks always become weapons<\/strong>.<\/p>\nI want to tell her, and every woman browsing through a fashion magazine, standing on a scale, scrolling through Pinterest, clicking through blogs, looking in a mirror:\u00a0Every yardstick always becomes a billystick<\/strong>\u2026.<\/p>\nI whisper it to her like a heart\u2019s battle cry, like it could rally a generation of daughters and women and sisters:<\/p>\n
Girls rival each other. Women\u00a0revive<\/em>\u00a0each other.
\nGirls\u00a0empale<\/a>\u00a0each other. Women\u00a0empower<\/em>\u00a0each other.
\nGirls compare each other. Women\u00a0champion<\/em>\u00a0each other.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of God\u2019s gloriousness. If your life looks like a mess \u2013\u00a0to them\u00a0\u2014 they whip out a measuring stick and feel confident of their own worthiness. If your life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ann's Wisdom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ann's Wisdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-10T15:24:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-07T00:26:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/\",\"name\":\"Ann's Wisdom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-10T15:24:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-07T00:26:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ann’s Wisdom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ann's Wisdom","description":"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ann's Wisdom","og_description":"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2013-11-10T15:24:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-11-07T00:26:37+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/","name":"Ann's Wisdom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-10T15:24:43+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-07T00:26:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"From Ann Voskamp: \u201cThere will always be people who see everything in the world as a measuring stick of their worthiness, instead of as a burning bush of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/11\/10\/anns-wisdom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ann’s Wisdom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}