To Grow is in the Dying

To grow is in the dying.

The falling of leaves in autumn.

The pruning of roses in winter.

Pruning what is good to allow for the growth of that which is greater.

He requires it and I long to follow and obey. I long for Him to transform me into His likeness, in whatever way best accomplishes the change. It is painful to die to self, to crucify my desires–to lay on the altar day after day.

When the kids refuse to listen and friends are too busy.

When my husband works long hours,

and I’m overwhelmed with the pace of it all.

It is painful and just plain hard, to refuse the selfish reactions and instant gratifications. To respond with the fruit-of-the-Spirit reactions instead of what I want to say and do…

That is dying, and in that I grow.

To see the thanks in each moment is the challenge. Wow! Such a perspective shift off of self and on to Him.

To see all He gives, instead of focus on all I lack.

To be thankful for what is, instead of wish for what is not.

And in the practicing of the dying…in self-sacrifice,

I suffer.

I’m stretched.

I’m pruned.

Ah…but I grow.

And He takes the yuck in me as I lay it down in each moment. And as I sacrifice myself and choose to die, it is then that He works in me. To die, so I can grow. And in my weakness He is strong and He produces the transforming beauty in me that He had in mind for me from the beginning of time.

May it be so for each one of us, is my prayer,

Romans 6:6-7 (ESV)

We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

 

Ephesians 4:21-24 (ESV)

Assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NASB)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

 

I’m joining Lisa-Jo, over at her site today, to take five minutes and just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. The challenge is to write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing, with the prompt she gives. And today, her prompt:

Grow…

Related posts:

For When You Need to Quit Performing to Earn God’s Love and Blessing :: Sermon on the Mount {Week 2} Why Feelings Are NOT the Dictators of Our Reality {There is Hope} Growing Takes Time