If we live long enough, we all grow old. But growing old does not guarantee we mature. Aging happens naturally. Every birthday adds another year to our age. Maturing, on the other hand, does not happen naturally. Instead, it requires a personal awareness and a willingness to change.
Making Progress
Walking into the health club the other morning, a young man smiled at me. Though I did not recognize him, I smiled back. Then he said, “Is that Ms Luikens?”
Stopping in front of him I asked, “Who are you?”
“You don’t remember me? I’m Joel. I was in your 6th grade class and gave you such a hard time.”
“How old are you now,” I asked.
“Twenty.”
After he gave me permission to give him a hug, I stood back and said, “And now you are all grown up.”
Though Joel is not completely grown up, he certainly is not the same kid from years ago; the one who sat in the back of the class slumped over and disengaged. Nope. Now he is working full-time and planning on going to college.
“It’s hard to figure everything out, but I’m working on it.” he said
What a pleasure it was for me to see him, to be remembered by him and to hear that he is trying to figure things out. Joel is maturing and he is exuberant about trying to figure things out for himself even though figuring things out is not an easy task.
Years ago, when Jesus invited me into a relationship with himself, I accepted. You can be sure that I had my ideas about how this relationship ought to go. You can also be sure that my ideas about God bordered more on being erroneous than accurate. But this is typical of any new relationship. Until we know something other than we know, we can only approach things with our preconceived ideas.
At the beginning, because I thought God was almighty, powerful and loving, he would make me happy by doing whatever I needed him to do; make my husband understand me, make that other woman apologize to me, save my brother. When I did not get what I wanted, then I thought that God must not like me any more. I’d based my relationship with him on what I’d learned about relationships in general.
Thankfully, I’ve matured a bit since then. By reading inspirational books, studying the Bible and rubbing shoulders with other imperfect people who are trying to figure things out with God and themselves, I’ve gained some ground with my faith.
Why bother to mature? Sticking it out, not giving up, and trusting that God is in command has taken me past my elementary thinking. I’m not done growing, I’m not fully developed, but I am maturing. It’s not easy, but even a twenty year old knows that.
New Release
