Îngrijorare, accelerare, înmormântare … Mi-a plăcut. Mai ales în acest veac al satisfacțiilor „instantanee“.
Measuring Spiritual Growth
by Charles R. Swindoll
Hebrews 5:12-14
Humans are strange creatures. We run faster when we lose our way. Instead of pausing to regroup, we ricochet from place to place. Three words describe our times: hurry, worry, and bury.
In this race called life, when the pressing demands of time are upon us, we need to stop and get oriented. We need to discover that the Lord is God. He will be exalted; He is with us; He is our stronghold.
Remember during your growing-up years how your mother had a specially designed wall with some pencil marks on it where, as you grew from year to year, she marked where your head reached? We had such a wall in our home. It was interesting to see how our children went through certain growth spurts at times.
On occasions, it was convicting when I came back from a trip and one of the smaller children asked, “Daddy, how much did you grow while you were away?” No, they didn’t have spiritual growth in mind, but I often thought about their question in that light. They wanted to know, “Do you keep growing? When does it stop?”
God uses an infinite number of vehicles in the process of helping us grow. I do not know of any means that leads to instant growth. I’ve never met anyone who became instantly mature. It’s a painstaking process that God takes us through, and it includes such things as waiting, failing, losing, and being misunderstood—each one calling for extra doses of perseverance. In your own spiritual growth, where are the marks on the wall of your life? Where do you stand in light of last year? Or how about the last decade?
Christian growth comes through hard-core, gutsy perseverance of applying what you hear and obeying it.
Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers).
Categories: Maxime si cugetari
Barzilaiendan 
Da , sunt de acord cu Swindoll , viata noastra trebuie sa fie presarata ( macar pe ici- pe colo ) cu aceste semne vizibile ale cresterii noastre in omul launtric. Eu le-as numi “pietre de aducere- aminte”. Intr-un anumit moment din viata ceva ne-a marcat existenta, ceva s-a intamplat iar viata noastra lina , respectabila, calma si cumsecade a trebuit sa se rasuceasca in directia VOIEI lui Dumnezeu pentru destinul nostru.
Orice copil cand vine pe lume este un vis frumos in Mintea lui Dumnezeu. Pentru fiecare in parte Dumnezeu a faurit destine unice, irepetabile, inimitabile. Ceea ce-L va opri sa le desavarseasca va fi numai VOINTA noastra. Dumnezeu vrea COLABORAREA noastra, chiar si-atunci cand nu intelegem ce ni se intampla. Iar colaborare inseamna ASCULTARE. Numai ASCULTAREA ne va propulsa in VOIA Lui perfecta pentru noi. Exista o VOIE PERMISIVA ( Dumnezeu este BUN , si de multe ori ne lasa sa ne lovim cu capul de propriile noastre alegeri, recuperandu-ne insa cioburile sparte ale destinului ), si exista o Voie PERFECTA in care DESTINUL initial, gandit si elaborat pentru noi de Mintea Lui divina, se complineste in ASCULTARE ( v. Evrei 11 ) . O Ascultare marunta, zilnica , in lucrurile cele mai mici, pentru ca Dumnezeu sa ne incredinteze, cand El crede de cuviinta, si LUCRURILE LUI MARI. Amin!