Growing Points

Wifeswap, Mission: Organization, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and others are all popular TV shows that have revealed a big fear in me. All of these shows, and I know they do it willingly, reveal how people really live. It shows their mess, their failures, their weaknesses, their circumstances. When I have seen these shows I cringe and think, "I don't want anyone to see my home like this." While it is true that I am happy to have people in my home most of the time, there are times when I would be greatly ashamed. My household doesn't always reveal the image I want it to. (and I know the same is true for most of you.) Right now I'd rather you not see my garage or my laundry room. (or for that matter my closet or the space under the stairs or...) Do you know what I 'm talking about? Can you relate at all?

I'm not as organized as I want to be, nor am I as disciplined as I should be, and it causes me discomfort. I don't like revealing my weaknesses because it makes me look...weak! Well, I am, and if you are honest you'll find you have a weakness or two, too. Even some who have it all together have forgotten where they put it! We all have weaknesses, or maybe a better way to put it, growing points, those parts of our lives that may need attention but are too often overlooked or ignored. We know there are weaknesses, but instead of working on them, we make up for them in other ways, like when gaining a few pounds, we buy a new wardrobe. It doesn't solve the problem, but fixes the symptom. It's like taking an aspirin for a broken leg. The pain may go away for a while, but the leg is still broken.

The last half of Matthew 18 is commonly known as a story about forgiveness. One man forgiven a great debt is guilty of refusing to forgive a very small one. I see it equally about personal discipline. A little diligence could have gone a long way to save him much trouble. Personal discipline is critical, whether its our health, our finances, our organization. We simply cannot become the people God is trying so hard to make us into, if we are not willing to work at these growing points. Why is it common that most people who win large sums of money, like in the lottery, end up filing bankruptcy? The core problem with them, most likely the very reason they gambled in the first place, was not a lack of money, but a lack of discipline. Money is the aspirin, but leg is still broken.

So, this idea of a making our lives brand nu . is a challenge (and I promise that this week will be the last time to use the word "nu" for a while.). It reminds us of how we aren't yet. How we ought to be. How we were meant to be. It's a challenge because we don't like to see our selves in that light. But deep down we know that something has to change, even if it is our goals, our mind, our heart, our priorities, our allegience. A forest is a living organism in which the trees that are old, damaged, diseased have to die in order that new life can spring up and the forest flourish. The same is true in us, something has to die in order for the new to grow. Getting made over takes some pain, especially the pain of looking deeply at ourselves and claiming our faults.

It's a brand nu year. Discover your growing points and seek God's help. He's waiting to set things right for us, to clear the slate, but it is going to take more than our humility, it also takes our self-discipline.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a closet to clean...

Peace ><>
PC