The Slowness of Growth


All week I’ve been watching baby robins grow up. When my neighbor hung a wreath on his door, Mama Robin decided to build a nest. l didn’t learn of the babies, though, until after they’d just hatched. Since then, I’ve walked over every day to say hello to the birdies. Check on their progress. Sometimes Mama Robin hovers over them, though often now she leaves them alone for short periods.

From one day to the next, the robins’ growth has been remarkable. When they first hatched, the four baby robins looked so naked, so bald, so fragile. Yet when I took a final peak at them this morning before heading out of town for the weekend, they all looked so cramped. Their eyes are open now and they’ve got lots of feathers. Almost grown. I fully expect when I return home on Sunday; their nest will be vacant.

I sure wish my spiritual growth could be that noticeable from one day to the next. Sometimes I can see changes in me, but most the time I can’t. At least not right away. Growth seems so slow. Unlike the birds which seemed to grow twice as many feathers from one day to the next this week, I wish I could see twice as much kindness or patience or self control in my life from yesterday to today. But growth doesn’t that work that way exactly.

Nevertheless, I’m confident that I will witness significant rowth this weekend. You see, I’m attending the annual women’s retreat at the church I began attending in 1978. For ten years while living in Nashville, I wasn’t able to make it. But now that I’ve returned to the Northwest, I’m only about 6-1/2 hours away. I’ll be visiting with friends who have attended there as long as I.

Part of the sheer joy of fellowshipping with these long time-friends will be to hear their testimonies of God’s faithfulness to them since I saw them last. Several of us don’t really communicate much with each other during the year. Not that we don’t want to. Just that life gets so full. Sometimes, I’ll hear what’s going on from a mutual friend. Now I’ll get to hear first hand.

So in a way, seeing these friends is sort of like time lapsed photography. They, like I, may not see the growth in themselves since it sometimes happens so slowly – at least it feels that way. But since I haven’t seen them all year, and they haven’t seen me, we’ll see the change in each other.

The teaching will be great. Everything about this weekend will be great. But hearing folks’ recent testimonies about how gracious God has been to them through some difficult times this year is probably what I’m most looking forward to. There are those who I’ve added to my own personal “Hebrews Faithful Hall of Fame List.”

Oh yea, and the food and late night “parties on the bed” will be pretty great too!

I have huge expectations for this weekend. Not of people but of God. I’m expecting Him to reveal Himself to me in fresh ways. I’m expecting to make a new friend. I’m expecting to grow even though I might not see it right away. I’m expecting fun and a fresh perspective.

And just like those little birdies will soon leave their comfort zone to fly out into the cold cruel world, I expect that God may stir my nest a little too, inviting me to walk with Him deeper still.
Have a great weekend. I’ll let you know on Monday a bit about the retreat. And if the baby robins really did fly away or decided to hang around a couple of days to give me a proper farewell.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)

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