Patiently Growing
Recently, time at the swimming pool has served as a marvelous antidote for July’s crescendoing heat. As I watched Hannah race down the water slides with her friends not long ago, I remembered how my middle daughter had once believed that she would NEVER be tall enough for the “big slides” at our local pool. The summer that Hannah was five-years-old, she was growing tired of being confided to the “kiddie pool.” One day, she asked a life guard for the coveted orange bracelet that would allow her to venture beyond the shallow play area. The young man eyed my third–born and tried to determine if she was tall enough for the privilege. Finally, he directed her to the official dolphin measuring stick.
“Let’s see if you’re forty–eight inches,” the life guard suggested. Hannah eyed the thick black mark at the top of the dolphin’s nose and placed her heels against its bright blue flipper. She stretched her neck like a star–gazing ostrich, raised her eyebrows, and held her breath. Despite her fully–stretched torso, the tip of my daughter’s blonde head failed to reach the mark of privilege.
“Only two inches to go,” the kind guard said sympathetically as my despondent swimmer trudged back to the baby pool. Before long, I spotted Hannah standing perfectly still beneath a brightly striped umbrella near the water’s edge. Eyes crammed shut, muscles tensed; she groaned and grunted through a clenched jaw.
“What are you doing?” I quietly asked.
“I’m trying to grow, Mommy. I need to be taller now.”
Not surprisingly, Hannah didn’t sprout two inches by the end of that summer’s day. However, nine months later she did complain of cold ankles while standing at the bus stop. One glance at my daughter’s high–water pants confirmed my hunch. We needed to shop for new jeans. Without straining, without grunting, Hannah had grown. Sure enough, when the following summer rolled around, that dolphin measuring stick seemed to have shrunk, and my middle child was suddenly sporting a bright orange bracelet!
Hannah’s quest for quick growth reminds me to be patient in my own pursuit of transformation. My daughter’s attempt to grow is not unlike my own attempts to quickly develop those seemingly elusive fruits of the spirit. My impatient desire to “grow up in Christ” can lead me to believe if I just “try harder,” then love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self -control will sprout from my life.
Unfortunately, my own effort doesn’t produce fruit any more than Hannah’s grunting and stretching produced extra inches. Growth- both of the body and the soul-is God’s job! While I can hinder my spiritual development by hardening my heart and refusing to surrender my soul to the work of the Lord, only the Holy Spirit can cultivate in my life the attractive characteristics listed in Ephesians 6. The best way I can help God is to continue to splash in His Word, listen to His voice, and practice my strokes of obedience as He grows me into the woman He’s dreamed me to be.
The Overflow: (The body) grows as God causes it to grow. –Colossians 2:18
Unfortunately, my own effort doesn’t produce fruit any more than Hannah’s grunting and stretching produced extra inches. Growth- both of the body and the soul-is God’s job! While I can hinder my spiritual development by hardening my heart and refusing to surrender my soul to the work of the Lord, only the Holy Spirit can cultivate in my life the attractive characteristics listed in Ephesians 6. The best way I can help God is to continue to splash in His Word, listen to His voice, and practice my strokes of obedience as He grows me into the woman He’s dreamed me to be.
The Overflow: (The body) grows as God causes it to grow. –Colossians 2:18
