Growth

 Have you noticed how anything of worth takes time and effort?  I read an article this morning interviewing a weight lifter.  He was talking about how weightlifting had taught him some disciplines that have really helped with his spiritual growth, too.  When one wants to lift weights, bulk up, etc., one must work hard, day after day.  There are small gains and sometimes set backs.  One must start small and build up to the heavier weights.  All of these have parallels to our spiritual lives.  As I was pondering this, I was working in my yard.  When we bought our house a year and a half ago, the previous owners had been struggling with health issues for a few years and the yard had been neglected.  I want a nice looking yard, but I despise yard work.  But I realized today that there was a lesson to be learned here, as well.  My yard will probably take a few years to get back into shape.  It will take time and effort.  It will take planning and I will need to start small.  Just like weightlifting, I need to realize that rewards come with consistent work each day for a long period of time.  Maybe even years.  This is like our spiritual lives.  We need to realize that growth takes time.  We often can't see the fruit God is producing through us, but others can.  Sometimes we have set backs.  Sometimes we only make small gains.  But if we keep at it for the long term, we will look back and see growth.  An added lesson came from my yard work.  More than just planting new seeds and watering, fertilizing, etc., we also need to be careful to weed our lives of the things that pull us away from our Father.  These weeds will be small to start with, but they can grow very large.  So pull them up quick, when they are first noticed.

Growth is a process.  It is a life-long process.  In our instant gratification world, this is something that is very hard for us to remember.  So don't give up.  Keep on seeking.  Keep on knocking.  Keep on asking.  (Matthew 7:7)

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

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