'Don’t skip the crap parts' part deux
Maturity looks like crap. We’re continuing to use crap as a working definition for those things that we’d rather avoid, those circumstances we’d rather not face, the things in life we’d rather skip, much like we do the adverts on YouTube, or part of the movie we wish they hadn’t put in - the crap parts.
It takes real maturity to work through the issues, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death rather than around it. Maturity is knowing what it is to walk through crap rather than avoiding it or, the other end of the spectrum, deciding to live there.
Maturity is not ingenuity; it’s not looking at smart ways to avoid obstacles and challenges, but rather plods on through despite how it smells, looks, sounds or feels. I say plod because that’s the way we spend most of our lives. Oh how we wish we would march, charge even, to face our issues with god-like confidence, but plodding will do because it’s forward motion.
The making of David wasn’t the slaying of Goliath, it was plodding through the back end of nowhere in obscurity guarding sheep.
The making of Paul the Apostle wasn’t on his missionary journeys laying foundations that would shape the world, it was plodding on a road in between somewhere or other whilst blind!
The making of you in the mess around you.
Growth, advancement, expansion - MATURITY is found in MANURE-ITY.
It’s BECAUSE-OF and not IN SPITE-OF the rubbish that you grow.
Here’s what happens to those that choose the path of INGENUITY rather than MATURITY/MANURE-ITY: they move from the crappy situation to somewhere less-crappy and initially it’s great! Everything is wonderful. New friendships, new opportunities, new environment. It’s all honky-dory. That is until they start to desire growth again. Then God repackages the stuff they ran from and gifts it to them to steward (again).
The Israelites taught us we can do it in 40 days or 40 years but either way, until we embrace the crap times (process) we’ll never see the good times (promise).
Here’s the encouragement - where you are now is not where you’ll be. God is preparing you. God is putting some stuff in you that will help you do what He’s calling you to. The crap parts are forming your character. You aren’t the person you were 6 months ago. You’re stronger, more tenacious, wiser, smarter. And all because you walked THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death and not around it.
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