Growing Pains

My son is eleven and growing fast. There are times when his growth is slow and hardly measurable. Other times—like now—he stretches so quickly that he complains his entire body hurts. Growing pains. I wish I could take them on for him, but he has to go through them to become the young man he’s going to be.

Even as adults, we can still experience them, can’t we? Spiritually at least. See, God’s constantly stretching us, growing us into who He wants us to be. There are times where I think the stretching is going to break me. Times I cry over how it hurts. And times where I shy away from it. Sometimes growth is the last thing I want and I walk away from it. I fail at what He’s asking me to do.

Now, God loves us, and when we fail He forgives us. It’s grace. Something given that we don’t deserve. Yet God’s ever-present grace is not an excuse to remain unchanged. If we’re going to grow into the child of God He’s created us to be, then we need to allow for a little growing pain along the way.

Maybe you’re in a slow period of growth where it hardly seems you’re changing at all. Or maybe you’re being stretched beyond what you thought possible, and it hurts. Whichever it is, you're in His hands, not forgotten and not being broken. Simply growing into who He created you to be.