Growth, a process that can’t be forced
Yet it comes with pains we can’t escape
Growth comes to one and calls on all
It enters willing and ready hearts.
Growth, the portion of all mankind
Though some scorn the price, choosing
Transient pleasures to eternal gains
Yet living comes easier and gets better
As we let our roots absorb, then stretch
Running deeper, reaching farther
Into living streams: our fruits last longer.
As we allow growth, we mature in grace
Before God, before men: our lives spread
Like branches, raising whoever it reaches.

Food For Thought: I visited my sister and her family and she had a very interesting complaint. My niece who was six plus at the time would claim she is seven each time she is asked, “How old are you?” Her mother considered it telling a lie but she claimed that saying she is six is also a lie because she is more than six; six plus is too mouthy and not a figure. As far as she is concerned, six is past, she will never again be six but she is going to seven and that is therefore preferred. Isn’t it interesting how we are in a hurry to grow up while so young and then we grow up and we want time to stand still and go no further? The compelling changes of growth become painful realities we don’t want to deal with. We shy away from challenges that call for growth and grumble when we can’t avoid them. Yet, that is what makes life thick: we may lose a thing or two in the course of growth yet we are better off growing than stunted. We are better off learning for that is one sure means of advancing beyond our limitations per time. Maturity and fruitfulness are crowns of growth that we must reach for despite the discomforts of the process.

Scripture: And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. Job 8: 7.

Prayer: Dear Lord, may I not shy away from the pressures and pains of growth: may I be accepting and active in my growth, amen.