Will B. Growing
Sometimes I forget or always seem to forget that we as humans are in a constant state of growth. Sometimes it’s physical, mostly when we are younger. Sometimes it’s emotional and sometimes it’s spiritual. Occasionally, it’s all three.
I was stagnating in spiritual growth for a good while, content with just the status quo. Since moving to Olney, I have had a spiritual awakening or growth spurt. Olney is a safe place to grow spiritually; the majority of the community practice various forms of worshiping God and Jesus Christ, it is even encouraged by most. We are lucky in this aspect and it makes it easy to experience growth as a Christian. I moved here from Fort Worth and I am sure there are a great many practicing Christians there but one has to seek out those interactions and relationships. It is not something you hear in everyday conversation. It’s one of the things I love about Olney. “Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3. now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Other times, I find myself craving physical growth as well. Just like spiritual stagnation, our bodies grow complacent as well and that causes all kinds of havoc with our bodies as we get older. I have been working hard over the summer getting back into shape. When I was younger, I enjoyed the gym and considered it something fun to do. Today I am split in my likes and dislikes of the gym. Some days I find it a treat to enjoy and on bad days something to endure.
Working out can help a great deal for us humans emotionally as well. Endorphins are released when working out and that can lift us out of a depression or turn a mundane day into a happy day with that endorphin rush.
Lastly, but just as important is emotional growth. This last one I have tinkered with off and on through the years but as I matured, I found I wanted to know how I tick or feel the way I do in certain situations. The biggest thing I learned, might even say I had an epiphany, people can not make us feel or react to situations in any certain way. Someone can not make you mad or sad or happy. What I mean by this is we choose to feel how we feel and how to react. Sure, seeing someone’s face can produce a reaction or the actions of people make us react a certain way, but we choose how we feel and react. Knowing and accepting that changed the way my days went dramatically on a day-to-day level. I can wake up on a day that is the third Monday in a row, trip over everything, spill things, hear bad news and choose to have a happy day despite anything negative that is going around me.
I still have good and bad days but in general I make a conscious effort to be in a happy mood even if I am not feeling it.
This is Will B saying, we are never too old or young to grow spiritually, emotionally or physically, and choose what kind of day you will have, don’t let the day choose for you.