Seasons

I spent a good part of Monday and Tuesday working on a project for a friend of mine who needed me to do some teaching for a video series his church is doing on spiritual growth. I'm using an article I wrote a few years ago talking about how our spiritual growth often mirrors the growth of a plant. One of the points I make in that article is that growth happens in seasons, for plants and for people.

It's Spring, and our tulips are just beginning to sprout and grow. We planted them last fall, almost 6 months ago, but they are just now sprouting. They didn't grow much during the winter - it wasn't the season for growth - so I didn't get frustrated when I didn't see them.

I think growth in the Christian life is the same way. I realized this yesterday when I was flipping through the Bible I used in college. That was a tremendous time of Spiritual growth for me. I had keen spiritual insights on a fairly regular basis, Scripture popped off the page when I read it, and I had a very real sense that my Christian life was thriving.

The last year or so hasn't been that way. Sometimes I feel like I'm truly laboring in the Scriptures when I'm preparing a sermon. I don't get those "aha" moments as frequently, or with the same intensity. And I don't feel like my observations are as sharp as they were a few years ago.

What's changed? Honestly, not much. To my knowledge there's no unconfessed sin in my life. I'm not extraordinarily worn down, or out of gas. There have been changes in my life, but none that would cause a "drought" in my spiritual growth. I think it has just been a time when God was working on me in different ways, most of which haven't necessarily been as obvious to me as they were in college. But something is happening...

One of the worst things people do during seasons where growth is not obvious is to stop all the things that led to growth in the first place. You can forget to water the tulips during the winter because you can't see them growing - similarly, you can stop good habits during the off-season of growth in your life because you don't see anything happening. The only thing that does is ensure that you're not ready for the season of growth when it comes back around.

If you're in a low growth time, don't be discouraged, and don't quit doing the right things. Just like a plant, you need the right nourishment and the right environment to grow. Sacrifice those and you will wither and die. Stay faithful, do what you can, and take heart; the seasons always change.