Day 23: How We Grow

I did not want to come to school today at all. I seriously considered using another sick day for mental health, but ultimately the desire to see my after school guys overcame my extreme aversion to waking up and driving out to school. I don't know exactly why I felt that way, but I just wanted to cry on the way to school. I think it's a combination of trying not to feel overwhelmed with the task at hand, lack of sleep since Wednesday because of All County rehearsals, and not really having had much of a weekend (I only had Sunday to recover from all the AC stuff; my legs are still a little achy).

Oh well. The important thing is that I didn't call in and I did in fact come to school. And I am being observed Thursday. . . I hope she doesn't want a lesson plan, because I don't really do those.

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Unlike physical growth, spiritual growth requires a committment (I suppose you could argue that we commit to our own survival, but it's not like we can choose to remain toddlers). Committment is such a touchy word for some people. We don't want to tie ourselves down to something in case it fails or we fail or we find something better. It's easier to just float around (reminds me of "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked) than it is to stick with something. Ugh. . . I'm being beat over the head with this idea, aren't I?

The book goes into the whole "working out" our salvation while the Spirit "works in" us. This is an important distinction though; we do not work FOR the salvation! If we truly understand and believe the implication of Christ's death and God's presence in our lives, we should WANT to be developing our spirit (in the same way that we work out and develop our bodies). The book also uses the analogy of a puzzle; when we work out the puzzle, we just have to figure out the arrangement of the pieces. I bought a puzzle yesterday, and I'm going to carry the analogy further. As most puzzles are rectangles (at least that's what I always think of), what's the first thing we do? Find all the edge pieces, of course. We need a structure so that we can figure out how all the other pieces will fit in. And which of the edge pieces are particularly special? The corner pieces. There are four of them. There are four parts to the greatest commandment. So, the edge pieces are like our heart, soul, strength, and mind. We have to root them in place, and make sure that they are all interconnected and holding together the frame of our lives. From there, we have all the pieces, and we have the final picture (perfection in heaven), and we have to figure out how to arrange all the pieces WITHIN THE STRUCTURE ALREADY CREATED. In our case, the structure is a combination of Biblical truths and teachings, fellowship with others, and prayer, to name some of the pieces. But it's not just about making that foundation; we have to act on it and put things together. The only thing is that God has some of the pieces to the puzzle, which we won't get until we join Him in heaven.

. . . that was a lot more convoluted than it should have been, but hopefully you got the idea.

The second main point in this chapter is also very powerful. We do not change only by acting; we change by thinking. The speedboat autopilot analogy is great (we can physically force the boat to change course, but eventually we tire out and it turns itself back. However, if we just change the autopilot, we have nothing to worry about). Willpower is great, but by itself it is not a strong enough force to create real change. I could force myself to work out every day just because "I should," but that's not why I'm working out; I want to be healthier. I know that by thinking about being healthier, I feel that I can do things to change that, and then I do them. Skipping the first couple steps are the reasons most people's diets, exercise routines, and New Year's Resolutions end up failing. They try to change their actions, but they never change their thinking. For developing Christians, we have to get rid of selfish, immature thoughts and start having mature thoughts focused on loving others.

Finally, because I like this quote: "Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle."

Point to Ponder: It is never too late to start growing.
People say that older people can't change. I have never believed that. Is it harder? Sure. Fighting years of habit is never easy. But when did anyone say that the journey of life was supposed to be easy?

Verse to Remember: Romans 12:2b- "Let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God- what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect." Today's English Version
I used to think these lyrics from "Into the Woods": But how can you know what you want 'til you get what you want and you see if you like it? What I want most of all is to know what I want. I want what this verse says more than anything else in my life. This song more accurately describes what I think now.

Question to Consider: What is one area where I need to stop thinking my way and start thinking God's way?
The answer, over and over, is my job. Read last night's entry for more information.

I'm all over the place with this entry today; but in my defense, this was also a short chapter.