We know it’s been said that every blade of grass has an angel above it whispering “grow! grow!” but in the lovely month of May, with things bursting into life on all sides, those angels’ whispers are often bold enough that one might almost hear them without the aid of imagination. It’s growing time! And the soft words of divine encouragement weave together in a rising song, chanting “grow! grow! grow!” as flowers explode in bloom, as kittens are born and nursed or bottle-fed, as teenagers get their drivers’ licenses and go to prom, and as we fall in love with one another, with God, with all of creation. I wonder how God is calling you to grow in this season.
We grow at different paces, of course. If you’re like many of our teenagers, asked “how might God be calling you to grow in this season?” you can probably rattle off a dozen major changes that demand your spiritual growth as God and circumstance call loudly for you to rise and meet the occasion. Certain times in our lives are like this. Sometimes we are called to rapid growth, and the angels hover urgently overhead at these times of transition. Other times in our lives the growth may be too slow to see with the eye, and the angels’ song easier to forget. Perhaps we’re not even growing upward or outward at the moment, but taking strength in, sending it down to nourish our roots. At times like this it’s a comfort to know that even when the growth is invisible, it’s still being divinely coached and called for.
So I ask you today — what’s growing in your spiritual life? What’s new? And is it rapid, growing-pains intense, like a fourteen year old boy, or is it quietly strengthening, like an oak tree? And can you tell, yet, what this growth is going to look like, or is that yet to be revealed? My garden is full of volunteers right now – seeds eagerly raising their hands saying “ooh, pick me! pick me!” Some will be tomatoes and some will be weeds, and some it’s too early to tell, but you can’t stop them from volunteering if you try all day. It can be harder to tease out what’s popping up in our spiritual lives, but the urge to live and grow is all part of that same irrepressible spirit, and it is a gift of God. May you hear the call to grow today.
Every Blessing,
Talitha