Just some thoughts about growing strong and spiritual disciplines in this year ahead, especially with Baby on Board. I guess after a year of Living Free in FHL, it's time for us children to start maturing. Me and EG are gonna be parents in about 4 weeks after all!
Anyhoo! Just some trigger thots. Having yet another insomnious night last night, I headed downstairs to grab a bite to eat and turned on the telly. Erwin McManus was on Life Today with James Robison, and it was pretty interesting - he spoke about the broken-ness in our world, and our responses. (Erwin, if you recall, heads up Mosaic church in L.A., and visited with Expedition sometime in 2005.)
One thing he said that struck me was the word Gratefulness - he said how no matter how much you keep doing things for people, how you keep loving and supporting them, they will never appreciate it, or benefit and receive from it, until their hearts are Grateful. They will only keep expecting more and more.
It got me thinking, especially with the advent of the baby - loving presents itself in 2 ways - unconditional love (I suppose, feminised, a "mother's love"), and the discipline/tough love ("a father's love").
How many of us receive with such certainty, Love, and yet are so un-Grateful for it? Regardless of the toil and heartache and prayers we hold for someone we care about as a brother or sister-in-Christ, it will never reach an un-Grateful heart. And an un-Grateful heart will never be able to receive sound discipline - love that shapes and grows us and forces us to mature - because it is selfish and immature.
Do we want to Grow Strong? Maybe we should all aim towards a Grateful heart - position ourselves in spaces where a Grateful heart may develop and grow. And that in itself, positioning oneself for growth, is already a sign of maturity.
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