day 72: Growth Charts

One of the redeeming things about going to the doctor when I was a kid was the standardized grow charts where I could see how I measured up to other kids my age. I had no idea what a percentile meant back then, but I always liked it when I heard the “top” of anything. Back then it was the top quartile. That changed after 8th grade when I learned that I had my growth spurt before everyone else and like the peloton closing in on the breakaway cyclist in the Tour de France, I could see the pack catching up and by 10th grade I was no longer in the “top” anymore. Just like our physical growth, we each want to grow spiritually and we practice and discipline ourselves to ensure that we are doing the right things, studying, praying, worshipping and fellowshipping. We work hard at it at work too to be the better person and to be the same person at the office as who we are on Sunday mornings. We can take heed and promise that we are growing with this discipline and practice. In Colossians we are told: "Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. " We have no idea how much we are growing until someone puts our back against the wall and puts a mark over our head, or until the aunt we haven’t seen in who knows how long, makes the obvious declaration, “Oh my, how you have grown”. Whether we know it or not, when we are striving and persevering and using all aspects of our lives to live (and work) to the purpose we have been given, we are growing in the eyes of God and of men. Others who we work with may not be able to put a finger on what it is, or even try to do so, but they can see it and if we stay consistent in our growth and the outpourings of this growth it will be more than obvious; others will want what you are having. We can start that growth today and make our own mark on the Kingdom’s growth chart.

Reference: Colossians 1:10, (New Living Testament)