Little By Little

With Spring getting closer and closer, I’ve been thinking a lot about growth. Ed and I have had our home for a little over two years now and we walk often in our neighborhood. On one walk about a year ago, Ed noticed that the tree in our front yard had grown enough that the stick that once was helping it stand up was now off of the ground, no longer giving it any support or help as it could stand on its own now. I pondered how that little tree captured a picture of growth in our lives… As we take small steps we can easily become discouraged by feeling like we aren’t making any BIG progress, but this so-called “big” progress happens over time. Our little tree was watered, went through seasons, had some good days, some cold, some icy…just as we too go through seasons, good days, and bad.

There have been many challenging things going on with my job lately and last week was really tough for me. As I was walking Maverick, I saw a huge tree that had fallen down during our most recent windstorm (it was a crazy one!). After the discouraging events of last week, I thought to myself…I am that tree. I thought I had good roots and when the storm came, I fell over too. (I tend to be dramatic and also inspired a lot by trees apparently)

I thought about it as I continued to walk and was so touched as I noticed several other trees that were beginning to bloom. I felt God telling me that THOSE trees were me.

While God is working on things within me and “knocking them over”, He is also doing new things and growing me. Just because something changes or we go through a tough time does not mean we have failed or “fallen over” so to speak.

I immediately thought of this verse…

And this passage…

The truth is, with God as the center of our lives, we will be transformed and grow, just like the little tree in our front yard. The truth also is that following God means that He is pruning us. He is teaching us and helping us to be more like Christ each day and sometimes, that means letting go of things that once grew us, but that now is hindering us from growing our faith or being Christlike. When that happens, it doesn’t mean that our lives our over and that we’ve failed miserably. I’ve come to find from my walk that it means just like Isaiah 43:19 says, God is doing a new thing. I do not perceive it yet, but I know that I will. So in the meantime, I will not be discouraged by changes in my life that feel hard to me. Instead, I will trust that God has a plan! I will be grateful for His pruning, remain in Him, and wait with anticipation! I will take that small step…then take another…and another and soon, I will look back and see how far God has taken me and how much I’ve grown by being faithful in the “small” steps…just like our little tree 🙂