growth
And even if we sink, even if the ground beneath us gives way, we learn. We can survive and build again. And we will know how to walk better, to build better, the next time.
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minus the not-so-occasional pessimism about myself and bouts of insecurities/no-confidence, i think i've grown - if this definition of growth is anything to go by.
this passage which Eugene Peterson wrote in Leap Over a Wall came to mind as i was thinking about it, something which i had blogged about earlier in January this year as i felt i had only changed, but not grown.
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When we grow, in contrast to merely change, we venture into new territory and include more people in our lives - serve more and love more. Our culture is filled with change; it's poor in growth. New things, models, developments, opportunities are announced, breathlessly, every hour. But instead of becoming ingredients in a long and wise growth, they simply replace. The previous is discarded and the immediate stuck in - until, bored by the novelty, we run after the next fad. Men and women drawn always to the new never grow up. God's way is growth, not change. Organic is a key image. Nothing from our past is thrown out with the garbage; it's all composted and assimilated into a growing life. And nothing - no "moral", no "principle" - is tacked on from the outside. David at thirty-seven was more than he was at seventeen - more praise, saner counsel, deeper love. More himself. More his God-given and God-glorifying humanity. A longer stride, a larger embrace.
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i wish everyone a year of growth: of stepping into the deep end and knowing you won't drown - be it by your abilities, or by God's grace. may you have a longer stride and a larger embrace.
---
minus the not-so-occasional pessimism about myself and bouts of insecurities/no-confidence, i think i've grown - if this definition of growth is anything to go by.
this passage which Eugene Peterson wrote in Leap Over a Wall came to mind as i was thinking about it, something which i had blogged about earlier in January this year as i felt i had only changed, but not grown.
---
When we grow, in contrast to merely change, we venture into new territory and include more people in our lives - serve more and love more. Our culture is filled with change; it's poor in growth. New things, models, developments, opportunities are announced, breathlessly, every hour. But instead of becoming ingredients in a long and wise growth, they simply replace. The previous is discarded and the immediate stuck in - until, bored by the novelty, we run after the next fad. Men and women drawn always to the new never grow up. God's way is growth, not change. Organic is a key image. Nothing from our past is thrown out with the garbage; it's all composted and assimilated into a growing life. And nothing - no "moral", no "principle" - is tacked on from the outside. David at thirty-seven was more than he was at seventeen - more praise, saner counsel, deeper love. More himself. More his God-given and God-glorifying humanity. A longer stride, a larger embrace.
---
i wish everyone a year of growth: of stepping into the deep end and knowing you won't drown - be it by your abilities, or by God's grace. may you have a longer stride and a larger embrace.