If only I were 6’3”!

“Put a rock on that boy’s head! He’s growing too fast!”  I always thought that turn of phrase was a little insane until my youngest, Will, grew eight (yes, EIGHT) inches in one year.  Seemingly overnight he went from being my little boy to becoming a young man towering, at nearly 6’3” tall, way above my head and shoulder line. “What are you feeding that boy?” my friends asked. 

When I see rapid progress in others, it’s inevitable to wonder how it happened. What makes people move forward, get three lanes ahead in traffic, accomplish with seeming ease things I have been struggling to overcome forEVER?  I don’t understand how people move from point A to point B so quickly, especially when I feel like I’m standing still.  I don’t want to be passed up, left behind, less mature. I want growth now. Like, NOW.

Is there a rock on my head? Am I not eating the right things?

Growth takes time.

It may have felt like Will’s growth from boy to man happened overnight, but it was actually a result of eighteen plus years of process – physical, mental, chemical, biological – that transformed his legs from short sticks to long (really, really long, 36”) sticks. Puberty hit, and the changes started coming in increments too slow to observe.

In his series, Grow, Pastor Trevor spoke of the transforming power of one step. Doesn’t growth always come in increments?  No child wakes up on her third or fourth birthday and declares, “I’m going to conquer a two-wheeler today!” Rather, she’ll start with a tricycle, advance to training wheels, and eventually, the full-size bicycle that she pedals all by herself.  No infant is born 6’3” tall (thank you, Jesus!). The process takes time.

One of my devotions this week from Experiencing God Day by Day describes the process this way: “He involved [the disciples] in a consistent growing relationship with Himself. Jesus took them through teaching, to small miracles, to large miracles, and to the resurrection.”  Growth is a process.

Often, I beat myself up for not conquering an area in which I need growth. For example, “The tongue, who can tame it!?” the Bible posits (James 3:8), and I lament that I’ve not harnessed the dern thing yet. But the increments of growth are evident if I look for them. I’ve developed a filter (who knew! lol); I’m not so quick to speak as I was just a few years ago; I don’t always have to be heard (my opinion is not that important. Again, who knew!? lol). Progress! With more time, I will grow more.

Growth takes the right food.

When my son Sam was going through puberty, our family would drink 3-4 gallons of milk a week, and by “my family,” I mean SAM! 😊 When he passed away, it took me about two months to realize why we weren’t using so much milk anymore.  That boy was feeding his body cereal three or four times a day, and then running off all those carbs with 5-6 miles of training. (I’ve noticed milk consumption is up again. Will?)

It’s so important to consume the right things to fuel our growth.  1 Peter 3:18 tells us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” There’s no better fuel for grace and knowledge of Jesus than the Word and Prayer. 

Scripture is the “milk” (and the Apostle Paul admonishes us to move from milk to meat!) that fuels our progress; prayer is the exercise than burns the fuel to produce muscles that move mountains!  Pastor Trevor notes that “prayer flexes faith.”  If I want to see a muscular faith, it’ll take a steady diet of truth through God’s word, and exercise through prayer.

Growth can be stunted.

A rock on Will’s head probably wouldn’t have stopped his inevitable growth, but it could have been stunted by other factors – diet, exercise, or an environment not conducive to his development. As Christians, we can refuse to grow. The prophet Jeremiah recorded God’s word to his people, “They turned their back to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.” (Jer. 32:33) 

Sometimes, you have to tell yourself no so you can say “YES!” to God.  If I insist on growing my way, I’ll stunt the growth that could have been possible had I listened and obeyed God.  I must be careful to not stunt my growth with ignorance, or willfulness, or selfishness (Pastor Trevor warned, “If God is a means to an end, the end is your god.”).

I’ve heard it said that if you’re still living, you’re still growing.  As long as I’m willing to grow, “eating” the Word, and exercising my spiritual muscles through prayer, my growth will be inevitable. I’m not all grown up NOW; I’m not supposed to be. I must commit to and trust the process until “…we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15b)

I will grow up someday! My prayer is that I’ll grow into a spiritual giant, 6’3” tall!