Growing ... Jayden & Me

Hi Friends,

Well, Jayden is very happy about his new mobility. He's crawling all around and pulling himself up on all kinds of things. And now, he's no longer happy just swinging in his swing or jumping in his bouncer. He used to think his bouncer was the greatest thing in the world, but now it's not enough. He wants to go more places, do more things, explore and stretch his newfound abilities. Today he was even working on conquering the stairs.

And he does all this even though on Monday, the morning after he first learned to pull himself to a stand, he clunked his face twice in a row and gave himself a fat lip. He cried loud and hard, and then he was back at it again. Working, stretching, striving to do more, grow more in his new skills.

He reminded me that I want to be like that in my walk with God, too. I want to be stretching, growing, wanting to be more like Him every day. And when I get a "clunk" on the face, I ought to just have a good cry, then keep trying, and not let past hurt stop me from pushing forward in the things that God would have me grow in.

I think too often as adults we let past pain hold us back. We worry too much about being hurt again and forget the wonder of finding new freedom in being like Christ. We love and are hurt, so we're relunctant to love sacrificially again. We try to follow what we think God wants and fail, so we're hesitant to try again. Someone clunks us when we attempt to help, so we back off and look out for number one.

But Jayden is teaching me to forget past hurt and press on, keep trying to follow God better, grow in Him, and keep looking forward to stretching myself to be more and more like Him.