Growth

Today I repotted my office plant. It looks much much happier and I anticipate that it will be much bigger in the next 6 months. Probably, it will need to be repotted again. I mention this because I've been learning about growing in relationship with God. I've also been reading A Severe Mercy. The author speaks of relationship with his wife, or "comrade-lover", about how "sharing" is the key to oneness. By trying to appreciate what there is to like in the likes of the other, they bond.

I've also been thinking about how I'm going to be leading a community group this month. Part of me is a little intimidated by this. Not because I haven't done it before, but because it's been such a long time. Then today, I got to thinking, that doing something I don't know how to do is the key to growing. It's the key to taking new ground. It also is an opportunity to ask God for help. This is where I believe I need to learn the most. I don't ask God for help very often. I feel really independent and like my life the way I've made it.

Like my plant though, I will remain in the same pot, restricted from growth, restricted from getting stronger and better if I don't get repotted. Like Jesus said you can't put new wine into old wineskins, and you can't get new growth from an old plant pot.

The process of growth can be painful, and it can be embarrassing, but it's really the only way to get anywhere. I need to look at this process, not as something to be feared, but as something that can be great. God has much more freedom to work with someone who is doing new things than with someone who is stuck in the same routine.

Therefore, I will make an effort to be asking God for help in the new things I am doing, I will do new things, and I will ask for help in the old things that I feel like I have handled. Help from God will make what I thought was perfect into what God thinks is perfect. Now isn't that better?