The problem isn’t ordinary life. Jesus slept, ate, joked, and paid taxes. The problem is that we’re content with the ordinary. We need to widen our hearts. We need to learn how the ordinary are sign posts to the greater joys, the greater relationships God has made us for. We need to be planning for growth.

A civil engineer here in Boise shared a consultant’s advice on how the city should plan for growth. The consultant listed three factors a city needs in order to create and sustain a thriving urban culture. 1) A cool downtown scene. 2) A reputable four-year college. 3) Adequate infrastructure. That last one is the peskiest.

As cities grow, roads and traffic create a bolttleneck. It’s like when your arteries near your heart or brain get constricted. Everything else starts to suffer. City planners respond mainly by widening roads. What are you doing when you widen a road and build better infrastructure? You’re making things more accessible. You’re allowing more people to pass through, which means more places can be built, more needs can be met, and better attractions become available. We would do well to apply that lesson to ourselves.

One of my favorite lines in the Bible is from the Apostle Paul talking to the Corinthians, who were citizens of an affluent, happening metropolis. He pleads with them to “widen their hearts” (2 Cor 6:13). Nobody else is holding them back.

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