Andy's Blog: A Personal Word
August 12, 2008
Aug. 12, 2008“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That’s a question we all used to get when we were children. At age 3, our son wanted to be a garbage man. When he was 9, it was a professional ball player. Later, it was a mountain climber/a cyclist. Our daughter wanted to be a teacher when she was young, and later a counselor. Now, she is thinking about law school. One way we think about growing up has to do with what we want to do professionally: butcher, baker, candlestick maker.
Another way of growing up is physically. Our bodies grow and mature. We get taller and stronger as we grow. Unfortunately for some of us, it is wider later in life. Our bodies are always growing, always renewing themselves.
Psychologists talk about a person’s mental age. Someone can be forty years old, but emotionally still be a child or teen. Emotional maturity has to do with our level of self confidence. It has to do with our honesty, our ability to express love, our awareness of others, and responding appropriately to change.
In the same way, we can speak about spiritual maturity. In Ephesians, Paul wrote of growing in maturity “to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” Spiritual maturity is measured by our conformity to Christ. That doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process which we Methodists call sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace is God at work within to move us to live a life controlled by love.
Recently, there was an article in Newsweek about Kirk Douglas, who is 91. Kirk says the greatest dividend of growing old is the discovery of the true meaning of love. He admits that, in his younger years, he was wrapped up in himself. Recently, Douglas and his wife led a campaign to build 400 safe playgrounds for the children of Los Angeles. “Now in my golden years, I’ve learned that you can’t know how to live until you know how to give.” Douglas is still “growing up.”
Growing up is not just something that happens to us. We have to become engaged in the process. We have to grow on purpose.
This Sunday is GROW SUNDAY at Trinity (hopefully every Sunday is Grow Sunday). In the gym and first floor commons area, there will be booths
representing growth opportunities. I invite you to “grow up.”