Graced To Grow

Sometimes growth doesn’t look like movement by leaps and bounds. Instead, it looks like small, consistent strategic steps in the right direction.

Life has an interesting way of reminding us to celebrate our small victories. Over the past 7-9 days, I’ve been reminded of my state of affairs 365 days ago. To make an extended story concise, I was off from work for close to 6 weeks for an issue which could not be found. Hear me out, my body was experiencing excruciating joint pain, to the point of discomfort to walk, sit and stand. The most comfortable thing to do was lay down on one side until it became sore, then wince over to the other side. This included fever, bouts of nausea and other complications. Let me just say it was a very dry season.

My GP ran some tests and they all came back stating I had a clean bill of health – this added to my frustration. Why was I in so much pain if I was “healthy”? He recommended that I see a specialist. She checked my joints a.k.a problem areas then asked a series of questions. She later deduced that my body was stressed out. What?! I remember thinking – there is no way this pain is due to stress, there has got to be something more to this than stress. After all, I knew how to mange stress anyway so it couldn’t have been that. The sweet doctor told me that my body seemed to be experiencing trauma – the kind that the body experiences when a person has lost a loved one, intense! I honestly has no idea that stress would cripple me to that extent but little did I know…

Rest is a part of who we are, it isn’t sold separately.

While sitting to reflect on how much ground I’d gain some 365+ days later, it spurred me to think about whether I was taking good care of the temple I’ve been loaned for only God knows how long. I’ve been thinking about whether there are any stress factors currently active in my life. In my moments of reflection, the sweet Lord reminded me about the importance of rest. I chuckled, because His was of orchestrating things most definitely differs from my line of work.

During the period I was ill, I had recently gotten engaged, I was managing a high impact, high-stress job, wedding plans and life in general. Although I was going along fine, my body reached a maxed out limit which resulted in the unexplained pain. Medically unexplained challenges simply because I needed to push pause and rest. I felt like my body was experiencing some kind of growth spurt I felt every ounce of. Truthfully, once I began to regain my strength, I realized that taking little steps toward rebuilding my momentum also had to be considered as movement and pace. Pace doesn’t have to mean top speed, each and every time. Sometimes it looks like small consistent, committed steps toward the big picture. Sometimes pace looks like resting to regroup rather than running on fumes.

Seasons are Seasonal

Yes, I know I probably shouldn’t use the same words twice in that heading but it’s the best way to describe what I mean.  Dry seasons won’t last forever and wet seasons aren’t always here to stay but all seasons have a role to play in our growth and development. During my season of rest I strongly disliked it. Primarily because of the pain but then because I was accustomed to moving much faster.

A tree doesn’t grow all at once, there’s a process that occurs we see the shoot peek up above the soil. There are external and internal activities taking place to ensure growth happens. Similarly, there’s internal and external activities taking place in our own lives. At times, we don’t always think about the importance of our internal organs – especially our Spirits. If we’re honest we can say that most times our focus is on the outside. Challenges arise from time to time, yes to grow us but if we aren’t properly rooted the slightest wind could result in an uprooted tree.

Take some time to acknowledge where you’re at and what your tree needs during this season.

God is Faithful!

I say all that to say this to say – God is faithful and He will carry you through each season you experience with His Grace. He has equipped you with all that you need to execute but He’s also given you the ability to discern when to slow down. And if you ignore the signs your body tends to send you the warning signals too like mine did. Though you are graced to grow through each season you experience it’ll take some sensitivity to the season.

Our actions and attitude during those moments when the season seems toughest will prune us and cause growth for the seasons ahead of us. Take time to nurture your home.