Dear Friends,
I love being around people who desire to grow, who have an insatiable thirst for learning and who are always looking for new challenges to stretch them. I want to be like the guy who signs his letters, “Yours at 89 and still growing.”
Leaders are learners; they never stop growing, and regardless of their age they are never content to remain where they are, but instead they are always looking for new opportunities to grow and improve.
The great cellist Pablo Casals was 81 when he was asked, "Why do you continued to practice four and five hours a day," and he replied, “Because I think I am still improving."
I would ask you, are you still improving? Whether you be young and just out of school, or older, or retired or somewhere in between, I wonder if you are still growing, still improving, still finding challenges that stretch you and take you outside your comfort zone?
Spiritually speaking we should never be the same today as we were yesterday, and we should never be tomorrow what we are today.
You may have heard it said, “When you’re green you’re growing, but
when you’re ripe, you rot." I want to be counted among those who are
green and growing. I want to be known as one who is constantly maturing
and moving forward, especially in my spiritual life.
The Apostle Paul exhorts his spiritual son Timothy, “To take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15). Paul wanted to see signs of spiritual growth in Timothy’s life.
In the Bible the word “progress” describes a pioneer, one who is
advancing into new territory. Spiritually speaking we should all be spiritual
pioneers, not just settlers. Pioneers, unlike settlers, look forward to
adventure. They are always advancing. They are looking for the next challenge.
They are never content to remain where they have always been.
I believe God wants us to take off, to risk, to get out of our comfort zone. He doesn’t want us to remain spiritual settlers, cozy and complacent as we live in our own little comfort zones.
I don’t want to be a spiritual settler, and I hope the same is true for you, No I want you to grow, risk, develop and mature. Peter encourages us “To grow up in our salvation." How sad it is to see people, who were born, who died at 40 and were buried at 75.
Once again let me return to that old office file cabinet where I have stored a lot of other people’s wisdom and share some thoughts that I hope might challenge you to adopt a pioneering spirit when it comes to your own personal growth.
“Growth determines who you are, and who you are determines who you will become, and who you will become determines who you will attract.”
“I consider it a wasted day when I have not learned something new or peered into the mystery of God’s grace and wisdom.” William Barclay, New Testament commentator.
Too many are embalmed by the truth rather than excited by it." Tony Campolo
You either will grow up or grow old. The choice is yours.
“When someone misses an opportunity for growth and improvement, he may feel regret. If he goes long enough without growing, he begins to feel he has had an unused life. And that is not unlike and early death.”
“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.” Robert Lewis Stevenson
“Growth unlike children is not automatic. Too many people start out at the bottom and sort of like it there.” Tennessee Ernie Ford,
“Hell begins the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts we wasted, and of all that we might have done that we did not do.” Gian Carlo Menotti.
As I close, let me remind you that “today’s peacock becomes tomorrow’s feather duster.” I'm not content to be relic of history, some old forgotten feather duster, but I want to make history, and I hope you do too. You can if you never stop growing.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment