Growth Is A Choice

Just to give you a little background on my spiritual development, I spent one year in serious study, prayer, and devotion, and then I let a promotion interrupt my plans for spiritual growth. At the time of the promotion I thought I had arrived. Hadn’t I studied and prayed for prosperity? So when it happened, I just knew God had answered my prayers. What I didn’t realize is just how much I would let personal drive get in the way of personal and spiritual growth. After awhile I started going down some of the same paths I had gone down before of complacency and laziness, and I didn’t understand why I wasn’t hearing from God anymore. I mean…we used to be so close. Where had God gone? Are you laughing? Because I am. Here’s where many of us miss it. God never goes anywhere. If you have been following my blog, you know that my pastor preached a life changing message last week on the prodigal son. This Sunday was the continuation, and he demonstrated how God will find you in the lowest and dirtiest of places and still pull you out. Amazing! So over the past week I’ve been reflecting on two types of growth: spiritual growth (growing in our relationship with God) and personal growth (making and pursuing personal goals to grow professionally, relationally, or as a person). It all started out of frustration with some of my students who are going to fail this semester. After my anger was kindled, internally I blamed them for not being proactive in their own success. But then I looked at my own life. I have slipped in both personal and spiritual growth. That’s how this whole writing/blogging/journaling thing started. It was a realization that I needed to acknowledge where I got lost, be grateful to God for the grace to get back on track, and to begin to follow Him again so that He can truly be reflected in my life. Growth is a choice. On my fitness journey I had to make a choice every evening to improve my health either by eating healthier and exercising or staying stagnant by remaining on the couch, eating junk food,and watching TV. I had already prayed and asked God for a successful weight loss journey, but I still had to do my part. It is the same now with this spiritual journey. Every day I have a choice to continue to spend time watching mindless TV or to actively engage with God and to spend time in His presence. My growth is on me and not on Him. He’s always been here. He was just waiting for me to desire His presence again.