The phone calls have begun!

I’m making plans to see family over the holidays. It’ll be fun to hear the same thing from each of them as they step through my front door – “Oh my goodness, your kids have grown so much!”

It’s true. They have. We’ve been feeding them, like, every day, and they just keep growing.

But it’s also expected. It would be weird if they didn’t, right?

But they won’t expect ME to have grown. That would be weird if they did, right? “Dan, you haven’t grown at all. Still short. Hair looks like it’s getting thin, too.” (Actually, I DO expect my waistline to grow a bit during the holidays, but that’s not what I mean.)

At some point, as adults, we stop expecting growth. This time, I mean spiritual growth. The Bible talks about all these awesome virtues that will become more and more a part of your life; it calls them the Fruit of the Spirit. 

But compared to this time last year, have I really grown in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control? Or am I basically the same Dan you saw last Thanksgiving? 

For my kids, growth happens, and then they deal with it. Their feet get bigger, and then they need new shoes. (Again! Agh!)

But when we’re grown up, first we deal with stuff, then growth happens. 

But only if we want it to. 

Only if we’re asking God to help us learn from the stuff we go through in life. Then, it’s a chance to grow some fruit.