The Stand-You-Stare-See Place

A group of voluntary busy beavers were at work when I stopped by our beyond-amazing new church building today with two grand-girls in tow.  Upon arrival, I explained to the eldest (age 3) that we had time to do a quick tour, starting with the sanctuary and bell tower, and then would go downstairs and outside to see the beautiful pond and the prayer garden (a small patio surrounded by plantings and a couple of benches).

After we’d made the rounds with great excitement and enthusiasm, I said, “Okay, we have just a few minutes left, shall we leave and go pick up your mom or is there something you’d like to see again?”

“I want to go back to the stand-you-stare-see,” said the three-year-old. 

At first it didn’t compute.  “The WHAT?” I replied.

Being used to my hearing impairment, she looked directly at my face and repeated herself.  “The STAND YOU STARE SEE.  STARE SEE.  S-T-A-R-E  S-E-E! You know!”

Ah.  Sanctuary.  That awe-inspiring room with the knotty pine vaulted ceiling and huge windows overlooking the sparkling pond that was actually more of a small lake.

We trooped back inside and entered the sanctuary to find a volunteer on an elevated bucket replacing light bulbs in the ceiling’s fixtures. “Do you want to take a ride?” he asked her.

It was no surprise to me that she nodded vigorously, being the adventurous sort. He lowered the platform to the level of the floor, she climbed aboard, and in a few seconds was peering down at us from 20+ feet in the air!  What a thrill!  Her eyes widened until they were as big as saucers, and she waved vigorously to her little sister who had to throw her head back in order to peer upward at her airborne angel-of-a-sister.

I’d told her earlier that the “sanctuary” was the special place removed from everything else where we go to worship God.  In classic fashion she received that information, and when we actually experienced it her little soul picked up on the room’s ability to inspire reverent awe. So it made perfect sense that, in her mind, it was the place to stand-and-stare - the stand-you-stare-see place - and that her first experience in the sanctuary was an elevated, lifted-up one.