Growing Up
April 23, 2021
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 1:9-10
Remi and I have been watching this plant, the Echium candicans, or pride of Madeira, over the past few months, waiting for it to flower again. I love to watch the cones sprout forth and change from green to purple as the flowers fill in the conical shoot. It’s fun to watch the progress of the growth and how each green cone forms, develops, and flowers at differing rates.
As we continued our walk, I reflected on how much the development of our Christian faith is like this plant. We each have our own path of growth and we reach spiritual maturity at different times in our life. We begin as baby Christians, beginning our faith journey like the new green buds that begin to form the cone on this plant. As we study, worship, pray, serve, practice obedience to God, follow Christ’s teachings, and experience life events that test our faith, our spiritual cones continue to grow and fill in with the flowers of our spiritual fruitfulness.
I began to think about what stage my own “cone” was in its development. What areas do I need to strengthen, what spots do I need to “fill in” more, where am I missing the “flowers”? I thought about how, like each cone in the pride of Madeira, each one of us develops our faith at our own unique pace. The pride of Madeira, as a whole, receives its nourishment from the same source, but each flower in the plant experiences its own rate of growth. Similarly, each one of us receives our spiritual food from the same Father, but our stage of spiritual development is different from anyone else’s. We shouldn’t compare ourselves to another’s progress but take responsibility for developing our faith as we journey forward, becoming the “full-bloomed” person God intended us to be.
How about you? Where are you on your faith journey? Are you a green bud, a blossoming flower, or somewhere in-between? What can you do today to nurture your spiritual growth? When we are rooted in Christ, he will strengthen us and equip us for all we need to grow up to be someone he can be proud of. Will you join me in growing up?
