Grow On

 

Now this is what is known as a spring green lawn! I had to do a double-take as I passed this corner yard. I have no idea what they used to treat this lawn, but whatever it was, it worked! The lawn appears otherworldly, so thick and tall and uniform. It also appears as if it would be extremely soft to the touch. I don’t remember ever seeing a lawn that I would describe as “fluffy”. Until today.

If I were this homeowner, it would be a challenge to make myself mow this yard for the first time. Even though I know it would look equally awesome all trimmed and edged, there is something about this natural, unkempt state that is so appealing. Nature has done a good job with this lawn, one that I could never duplicate.

In this season when school years end and our children move on to other things and another year, we can see how they have grown. Some grew in ways we imagined, following along with the projections for knowledge and maturity. Some follow a little different trajectory. They grow and development, but with their own unique expressions of who they are and how they are changing.

In our spiritual journeys, we can fall into the trap of thinking there is only one way our path should turn, only one way we should look when God is working in our lives. But God, the creator of this marvelously diverse universe, works in many ways with a wide range of people. One persons’s path is fairly straight and level as they grow in their knowledge of God. Another person may have a path that looks like the readings of a Seismograph after an earthquake, their path is up and down and all over the page. Most of us fall somewhere in between.

None of this is s problem until we start comparing ourselves to each other. I have a feeling that God is comfortable with us when our lives are neatly cut and trimmed as well as when we look a little different, like the lawn on the corner. When we get as comfortable with ourselves as God is comfortable with us, that is when we grow. And we grow into the unique child of God we were created to be.

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul describes the church as a body. All the parts are different, but all are needed. God fits us together, different as we are, to make a whole. The differences are necessary. The differences are God’s design. He ends the example with this statement: “You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” So grow on.

Peace.