Let G(r)o(w)
Spring is coming after a doozy of a winter.
Alright, a doozy of a year.
Generally, we view spring as a time of renewal and new growth. We emerge from the winter, a time of literal cold and darkness, into the sunshine and potential of a new season. After a year of upheaval, uncertainty, and often gloom, I find myself cautiously optimistic. I want to grow this spring, become refreshed and fruitful and beautiful. But how?
Things can’t grow if they are rigid and immovable. Babies have soft, shiftable little heads so they can grow. Hermit crabs have to move out into bigger shells, leaving their comfortable old shells in order to grow larger. Snakes shed their skin. Insects molt. Buds have to burst out of their sepals in order to bloom.
So it is with us. We cannot grow when we are clinging tightly to what we already have and who we already are. We cannot become more when we are rigid and unyielding and refuse to change. But when we let go, God can transform us. The letting go of our old Eve is not a once-and-done situation. Every new morning we’re granted, we need to let go of her grip on us for the opportunities of our new woman, our sanctified life. We need to leave behind the comfortable old badness in order to receive unfamiliar new goodness. It’s not broken in yet. We’re not used to it. It might be confusing or even frightening. But the Lord has planned these changes for us:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”Isaiah 55:8-13
Growth is also the result of water, food, and sunshine. A plant unwatered will not grow, no matter how much we might want it to. People and animals do not grow without a source of good food. Living things don’t generally thrive in darkness.
Where can we find this light and nourishment?
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3)
The Lord’s gifts, his Word, the righteousness he gifts us, are our sources of strength and nourishment. He is our eternal sun, able to make us blossom and flourish and become beautiful new creations. If we desire something new this spring, if we desire personal growth, what we are truly seeking is a closer walk with Christ. When we intake more good spiritual food and walk in God’s perfect light, growth and strength and beauty will follow. His Word does not return to him empty.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green.Psalm 92:12-14
Photography from FLOCK Retreat 2018 by Devon Rose Photography