Why Your Childhood Dreams Are So Important to Understanding Yourself

Photo by Shannon Moore

I think we're missing out on something we had right as kids.

Do you remember all those grand dreams you used to have? Do you remember the way it made you feel to pretend they were true? 

It was one of the most incredible feelings in the world. It felt like you had somehow escaped into the world you belonged in, all along.

I don't care how stupid the dreams were. 

I don't care if they were dreams of knights and princesses. Or wizards and magic. Or Jedi and Star Wars (yes, you leave the "s" off Jedi). Or even Dragonball Z and all that anime stuff. 

I know you wished you could be something else. Something greater. Something magical.

We all did.

And somewhere along the way, we lost sight of it... what we really wanted.

The Lost Dreams of Your Childhood

If you've seen the movie Mr. Deeds, you might remember the part at the end in the stockholder's meeting. Adam Sandler asks a guy what he used to want to be when he grew up. "Veterinarian" was the answer. Why?

"I wanted to help sick animals," the guy said.

"And what do you do now?"

"I own a slaughter house."

A slaughter house. There's not much farther away you can get from a veterinarian.

I'm not going to lie, that part is so funny it almost makes me pee my pants. But it's got an eerie effect on me now... Maybe because I know how easy it is for this to happen to people. To happen to me.

Have you noticed that many old people are crabby and miserable, while most kids are carefree and blissful? Why do you think that is?

Could it be that many adults have lost the freedom that was so apparent to them as kids? That they've allowed bondage to overtake them?

We call it "growing up." We call it "getting realistic."

I call it loss.

And I don't think it has to do with jobs. I think it's something spiritual. I think we settle for something in a spiritual way -- a worse existence than God wants for us.

Maybe What Was Alive in Us as Kids Isn't Dead.

Think about what you wanted to be. What does it mean about you? What did you really want?

• Did you want to be an astronaut? Maybe you wanted to explore the unknown. Maybe you wanted to go on an adventure. Maybe you wanted to experience something thrilling, something you've never experienced before.

• Did you want to be a princess? Maybe you wanted to be desired. Maybe you wanted to know for sure you were truly valuable. Maybe you wanted to be an important part of things...

• Did you want to be a firefighter? Maybe you wanted to be a hero to an entire nation.  Maybe you wanted to earn the love and respect of everyone. Maybe you wanted to preserve the beauty in this world from the things that are trying to destroy it. 

• Did you want to be a knight in shining armor? Maybe you wanted to defeat an enemy for someone you love. Maybe you wanted to save a pretty girl. Maybe you wanted her to love you in return.

Could it be that you're still longing for these things?

I think it's a mistake to give up on them.

Because at its core, none of it is bad. This is the stuff we were made for.

And I'm not talking about the occupations. Obviously, nobody's going to pay you to be a knight in shining armor (unless you want a job as a college mascot, of course... and if you do, far be it from me to tell you how to live your life). I'm talking about what's under the occupations. 

Ever Wonder Why You Don't Connect With God? This Might Be Why. 

If you're too afraid to allow yourself to long, then there's nothing for him to fill.

What if God wants to connect with you in those deep places you used to dream about but gave up on?

What if you let yourself dream that again for a bit, and followed the rabbit hole to see where it took you?

I'm not saying quit your job to be an astronaut. I mean look for what your "True Self" was longing for, that was surfacing as wanting to be an astronaut.

Once you've figured out the core of your longing, you've figured out something you want from God.

And guess what -- I think he wants to give it to you.

Maybe not in the way you're thinking... but if He put a deep longing in you, He meant to fill it.

Somehow, life always seems to take us to the opposite end of the spectrum from God's Original Design for us. Barely anyone ever understands what they were truly made for. And I think it's because we don't understand our most raw desires as humans.

I think God is waiting to fill those places in us.

Honestly, I don't know exactly what this looks like for everyone. I just know my truest dreams have been a reflection of the things my deepest self has been intensely longing for all along. And maybe knowing more about that... would get us closer to connecting with God in the passionate way we've always longed to.

What might your childhood dreams be saying about what you really want?

The Secret Ingredient for Growing in Relationship With God and Getting Better at Stuff

Photo by Susan L.

"I'll never get better at this. I'm just bad at it."

Ever thought it? I sure have. What about this one:

"I wish I could just know God better."

That one hits home for me.

I've done a lot of wishing I could know God better. I've done a lot of thinking I'd never make any progress, either (especially in high school).

But since I've moved to Nashville, God's taught me something really cool through all my writing practice. He's taught me the secret ingredient to making progress -- in relationship with Him AND in getting better at stuff. So much value... rolled up into one tiny ingredient.

Want to know what it is?

Of course you do. Well then, let me tell you:

Just show up.

All you have to do is show up. And you'll be ahead of 90% of the rest of the world.  Allow me to explain.

I've noticed this pattern since I've been in Nashville. I realized nobody, myself included, wants to take the time to get good at stuff. I figured I should just be born a good writer, or I'm not gonna be a good writer.

But then, I started scheduling chunks of time to just write, not caring whether it was good or bad. Most of the time, it was complete crap (sorry, you can't see). But I realized that whenever I was doing it consistently, I was waking up better at it the next day. It somehow made me better... because I was actually writing. And when you're actually writing, you're actually getting better. And, sure enough, the next week I was writing slightly better stuff.

Woody Allen says, "80% of life is showing up."

I think he's onto something.

Why is showing up so important?

1. It gives us the time we need to grow.

When you do something once every 2 months, you're probably going to stay bad at it. And then, you're going to say, "Why am I not getting better? I must just not be able to get better. I must just be stuck like this..." But that's the problem you have when you aren't doing it frequently enough. You've gotta trust the process, whether it's a skill or a relationship.

 We need time with God to grow our relationship with Him. Sit down for 15 minutes per day for a month and listen to him, and see what happens. Watch yourself get annoyed the first few times when you can't hear him, keep showing up, and then get watch yourself get better and better.

2. It takes a long time to grow. 

Doing something over a long period of time is what changes us. When you work out consistently for months at a time, that's when your physical body dramatically changes. When you spend time with God consistently for months at a time, that's when your heart dramatically changes. It takes longer than a few weeks to actually change.

3. It often doesn't depend on us to grow.

This is especially true when it comes to growing spiritually. We don't have to change ourselves. God changes us. And it doesn't take anything special -- it just takes time. And that's true in any relationship. If you want to grow in a relationship, you just have to invest time. You don't have to do something really hard. You just have to show up.

Also, this is how "muscle memory" works (the thing that your body needs to play guitar).You just do the same thing over and over, until your fingers do the thing without you even having to think about it. It doesn't take special talent to do the same thing over and over.

4. When you show up, you start seeing where you need to improve. 

Yes, "perfect practice" is the only way to get "perfect." BUT, perfect practice is just being conscious of what you're messing up on as you're practicing. Show up, and then you can figure out the rest while you're there.

This works in a relationship with God, too. Showing up is wayyy more important than getting yourself right beforehand. That's why God says, "Come as you are." Because if you show up, you can work out the kinks when you get there. And besides... God cares a lot more about YOU than he cares about the kinks.

So, if it's not that hard to show up... then why's it so hard to get myself to do it?

The process of doing it isn't what's hard. It's getting ourselves started that's the hard part. It's not hard, but it is. Why?

We're afraid of imperfection. We don't want it to be messy. We want to have our stuff together. In writing, music, God, everything. Things have to be right the first time around. We have to write a best selling novel with the first story we write. We have to be "living better" before we show our face around God.

But imperfection is part of showing up. We have to write poorly before we can write well. We have to have awkward times with God, where we don't know what to talk about, where we say, "uhh... um... I like your... clouds.. today...." before we get comfortable enough to go deeper. But that's the beauty of it. It's supposed to be messy at first. Showing up doesn't require perfection. It really just requires... showing up.

So, the moral of the story:

If you want to get better at writing: write.
If you want to get better at Chinese: speak Chinese.
If you want to get closer to God: show up.

See the pattern?

Whatever your goal is -- writing, photography, guitar, a deeper relationship with God -- try making it a priority to just show up every day. You'll most likely find that your results get WAYYYY better.

When Christians Should Feel Guilty (and When They Shouldn't)

Photo by ms.akr

We've all done some crap.

And I don't think any of us are proud of it.

In fact, we Christians do a whole lot of feeling bad about it.  Almost all the time.

We live life like we're constantly trying to dig our way out of this gigantic hole, and God's not going to be happy until we get out of the hole.

"Is this good enough for you today?"
"Have I avoided your wrath today?"

Even worship.

"Let me sing to you so I can make up the ground from all the times I've screwed up."

We like to call this "guilt."

Some of us are resistant to it. People who are resistant often end up leaving the church. Because it's hard as crap to live with a big condemning guilt-trip hammer above your head all the time, threatening to smash you. I don't blame them, honestly.

Why?

Because no one was meant to live that way.

See, we're all used to guilt meaning we are less valuable. We all hear things like, "You should have... but instead you..." and they begin to steal our self worth, because we believe they're true. We believe it's what God thinks. Or it's at least what we think.

This is really sad. Because it runs people away from God. But God doesn't even use this kind of guilt. His voice is something entirely different.

The Two Kinds of Guilt

Type #1: Condemnation

Here's the kind of guilt people run away from: "You aren't good enough, and you should be. And so I'm constantly wishing you could be better than you are, and I'm disappointed in you every day."

It feels like it's a strike on who you are.

And condemnation is NOT God's voice.


Type #2: Conviction

This is the good kind of guilt. It's the kind of guilt God brings about. What's so "different" and "good" about this kind of guilt? It doesn't make you want to run away. Somehow, it instead makes you feel even stronger. It still hurts -- but it doesn't demean you.

 It says, "I know who you REALLY are. When you do this crap, you are SETTLING. Who you are is better than this, I designed you for something greater than this, I have better plans for you than this."

It's a call to BECOME who you are.

And conviction is God's voice.


There's something special about conviction. And something that sucks about condemnation. Do you see it? Do you see the difference? Condemnation is a strike on who you are, while conviction is a call to become who you are.

Condemnation makes you feel "less than." Conviction tells you the real you is so much more than this. One makes you want to change because fear, the other makes you want to change because of love.

One makes you feel completely worthless, and the other makes you feel like you are so extremely valuable.

How to Live Out of the Right Kind of Guilt

The way you live out of conviction is simple: Learn to hear the difference between conviction and condemnation. Only believe what's true about you. You're not worthless. You're not in a hole, trying to dig out so that God will like you.

When I was dealing with this a few months ago, I felt like God said, "I haven't condemned you. Why are you condemning yourself?"

I was condemning myself. Or rather, I was agreeing with whatever was condemning me.

The most common type of guilt we hear is condemnation. And the bad part is, we normally attribute it to God. "I screwed up today, I'm not going to be enough for God. Oh boy, He's mad at me again..." But it's not actually his voice.

God convicts, Satan condemns.

And so the real guilt, the only kind of guilt you should listen to, is the kind of guilt that doesn't make you want to run away. It's the kind of guilt that makes you stronger, not weaker. It's the kind of guilt that makes you see yourself as worth more, not less.

Because that's what's true. God's guilt will always be calling you to become who you truly are. It will never ever ever degrade who you truly are. And that's how you tell the difference.

Listen to the voices you hear that guilt you.
Listen to the voices that come out of your own mouth that guilt you.
What are they saying?
Are they trying to tear down something deep, or build up something deep?

That will tell you who's talking to you. And that will tell you whether to listen.

Romans 8:1 - "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death..."

Why You Need to Learn How to Laugh at Yourself

Being able to laugh at yourself is extremely Godly.

Why? That seems weird...

But it's super true. Let me tell you how I learned it.

Origin Story

From birth until 24 years of age, I was what some people like to call a "sensitive person." I got sad when people made fun of me. I took it personal when someone made a joke about something stupid I did. I just couldn't handle it. And I think that's pretty standard for people.

At least, from my experience anyways. Most everybody's insecure about SOMETHING. And when you get made fun of for that specific thing, it puts you on the defensive.

Then I met Damon, who didn't follow this rule at all.

Watching My Boss Laugh at Himself

Damon was my boss from 2011 to 2013.

Writing that makes me feel like I'm doing my resume. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm fairly confident that if there was a boss pageant, Damon would win. At least, in the "being a good boss" category of the pageant. And possibly the facial hair category as well.

One of the first things I noticed about Damon was his ability to laugh at himself. If he did something stupid, he would laugh just as hard as anyone else. And sometimes harder. It always mesmerized me that he was able to do that, because I knew I couldn't. 

Where I would go to great lengths to cover up the slightest screw-up on my part, Damon would broadcast the embarrassing things he did, often inviting people to chime in to comment on them.

I just couldn't understand why or how he did it.

Why did he offer himself up for other peoples' pleasure like that? How was he strong enough to do it without crying/dying on the inside?

Why Laughing at Yourself is Godly

I don't think we ever talked about it, Damon and I. 

I think one day, I just got it.

Damon's perception of his value wasn't tied up in what he did. Not even in the least bit. Somehow, he had achieved what many people only dream of. He had found a way to TRULY have his identity where it belonged -- in the fact that he was a son of God.

He knew he was a brilliant stroke from God's paint brush, a part of a grand mural that's telling a grand story. And no silly thing he did, like tripping or falling or having a booger in his nose while he was speaking at Youth Group, was going to change that.

And man, if that wasn't the most admirable thing in the whole wide world.

One day, it finally started to click with me, too. I began to understand how to laugh at myself, at my own weaknesses.

How to Laugh at Yourself

Let me tell you what you need to know to be free enough from your insecurity to laugh at yourself:

You need to know that the type of body you have doesn't define you.

You need to know that the type of mind you have doesn't define you, either.

You need to know that the things you can't control don't and will never define you as a person.

If you're clumsy, and you're self conscious about it, it doesn't define you.

If you are forgetful, and you're self conscious about it, it doesn't define you.

I used to be super self conscious about how slow I do things, and how I don't notice things, and how I do the DUMBEST things because I'm not paying attention to something obvious. Last week, when I was playing pool, I hit the orange 5 ball with my pool stick instead of the cue ball. Because in my mind, for some reason, the 5 was the cue ball. This is what I deal with on a daily basis. I should get an award.

But here's the secret: I've learned not to associate "me" with the largely inept parts of my brain that don't do the jobs they're supposed to. 

My brain isn't me. My body isn't me. My soul is me. And God crafted my soul carefully and made it beautiful and powerful and useful and valuable. And that's where "me" is.

And because of that, I can laugh about how my dumb brain made me hit the 5 ball instead of the cue ball. I don't have to think about how much I suck because of the parts of me I don't like. Because those are just the shoddy parts of the "vehicle" my spirit is riding in.

Laughing at Yourself Makes People Like You More

One of my favorite parts of learning how to laugh at yourself without taking a deep strike on who you are is this: It honestly makes people like hanging out with you more.

Imagine with me for a second... You hang out with a friend, and your friend trips. You can't help but laugh a little. You really want to laugh at him, but you know he'd be really mad about it. So you try really hard not to laugh.

Now, Imagine a different scenario... Your friend trips, and goes tumbling down the stairs. He looks like an absolute fool. You let out an "oh my gosh" until you realize he's okay. And the way you find out he's okay is the cackling laughter emerging from the pile of carnage and school books. He says, "Holy cow, did you see that? that was hilarious!" So you feel better about that natural laugh that starts to set in. You and him laugh for thirty minutes about how silly he looked rolling down the stairs. What a goof.

You're going to like hanging out with the second person more.

When someone can be their natural self around you, they're going to feel more comfortable with you. They're going to feel like they can truly be themselves around you. And people love not having to edit themselves for fear that they might offend someone.

When one of your friends feels comfortable enough to laugh at you, they're saying, "We are good enough friends that I know you know I still love you, even if I mess with you a little bit." They see you as a strong person. That's why they feel comfortable making fun of you. And deep down, they're grateful that they don't have to edit themselves at all around you.

At least, that's often how it is...

I'll admit, I'm not perfect at laughing at myself. I still run from people making fun of me sometimes. But for the most part, I've learned to separate myself from the silly things my brain does. And it's just all around better for everybody.

Learn to laugh at yourself. It's a necessary life skill.

Damon for class president.

Actions, NOT Words, Define What You Believe

Photo by Cleft Clips

Have you ever known someone who said one thing and did another?

Maybe a friend who claimed to believe something, but their actions didn't line up with their beliefs?

Or maybe even a friend who claimed to hate Justin Bieber's music, but then you caught him listening to it in his car?

Closet Beliebers. They need to just own it already.

If you're like me, you probably do a lot of wondering, This just doesn't add up. Why does all this happen?

I came across an interesting story recently that sheds some light on the topic.

A marketing genius was talking to a class at USC a few years ago. And to prove a point, he asked his class:

"Raise your hand if you like going to plays more than going to the movies."

A bunch of hands went up.

"That's a load of crap and you know it," he said, "and I'm about to prove it!"

"Raise your hand if you've gone to a play in the past two weeks."

Nothing.

"Now raise your hand if you've seen a movie in the past two weeks."

Hands all over the place.

Seems to me like some kids believed that they were a little more hipster than they actually were.

His point: Trust peoples' actions, not their mouths.

Marketing gurus know not to take people just at their word. Because if you invest money into what someone says instead of what someone does, you might end up outta luck. Why? Because what people DO and what people SAY don't always match up. Trust what people buy, not what they say.

Marketers know people's decisions are driven more by emotions and less by logic. People like to see themselves in a more favorable light most of the time. Me included. We might say something in an emotionless situation, but DO something completely different when our "wants" get tangled up in it.

For instance, have you ever said to yourself, "I am content with the clothes I already have," and then gone out and bought another expensive pair of pants?

You didn't buy them because you needed them... you bought them because you wanted them. And that shows you that maybe you aren't as content as you thought you were.

Actions reveal deep wants, which do a much better job of showing us what we believe than our words do.

Crazy, right? Our actions show us what we believe.

We may say we believe something if it's what we feel like we "should" believe. We may even think we believe it ourselves. But if it doesn't show up in our actions, we must not believe it.

And thus, we end up with these little "Trojan Horse" beliefs about ourselves.

Think about it.

How many times have you heard your friends say, "I believe _______", but their actions don't match up?

How many times have you and I done the same thing?

I know for a fact I'm guilty. I say things like, "I know God will take care of me," and then I live my life like there's no way that's true. I start taking matters into my own hands, living out of fear, etc.

My point is this:

You can find out what you TRULY believe by watching yourself. How do you act? What are you doing? Does it line up with what you're saying? When it comes to belief, the actions will ALWAYS trump the words. That's why they have that saying about it:

"Actions speak louder than words."

Right?

Because actions reveal beliefs.

So if you wanna know what someone TRULY believes... don't listen to them. WATCH them.

Why Do I Get So Mad When I Lose?

Photo by Lenore Edman

When I lose, I get furious.

I just recently lost a game I really wanted to win. I REEEEAAALLLLYY wanted to win it.

I've been thinking about why I'm so mad. There's something deeper going on, and I haven't quite put my finger on it yet. But it's the deeper things inside of me that intrigue me most. And anything that I can't stop thinking about is worth digging to find the source.

I'm going to try and analyze the feeling I get when I lose. Hopefully you can gain some insight into your own life from it.

After I lose a game, my mind races. Why did I lose? I HAVE to know why I lost. What would have made me not lose? What can I do for next time so I won't lose? That's what's happening right now, even as I type this.

And when the other team celebrates their victory, it makes me even more mad. I hear them celebrating and the only thing I can think is "If I hadn't sucked so bad here and screwed up there, you wouldn't have even won. You're not even good." It seems as if I have a problem letting people be better than me.

I think the problem is that I value myself by my ability to prevail against adversity.

I don't know why, and I don't know how. But I have learned to define myself by what I do. After I lose, I get this tremendous urge to go practice for hours and hours, so that I will never ever lose again. So I will never ever not be enough again.

Yeah, I know. my identity isn't in what I do. It's in Jesus, right?

The problem is sometimes that doesn't mean anything to me. I can say it to myself, but that doesn't fix what's deeply wrong at my core. There's something wrong -- but it's too many layers deep. I can't see what it is.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being competitive, but I wonder if there is something wrong with where it's coming from.

My friends and I had a conversation on the beach about competitiveness a few years back, after a riveting game of beach Bocce. The question was this: "Do you love to win, or do you hate to lose?"

I hate to lose.

I think I'm even afraid to lose.

I'm afraid because of what it will mean about me...  that I won't be enough.

But what does "enough" mean?

Does enough really mean "good enough to win at a video game"? Yes, that's what's got me feeling like this, by the way. A video game. I know when I think logically about it that it's incredibly silly to say I'm not worthy because I lost a video game. But there's something in me that tells me I'm not until I can convince myself logically it's silly. And that's how I know there's something wrong way down deep inside me. My deep self believes it. I'm believing something about the world, about myself, that's not true. But it's buried deep inside me. It's like a computer virus, hidden in my computer. What could it be?

At least I know that much. And if your experience is similar, maybe you can use this as a shortcut to get at least this far.

Here's the question I'm going to struggle through this week. Why is it that I'm not defined by whether I try and succeed or whether I try and fail? Because I just don't know why that's a bad scale. I just know it is a bad scale.

I'm not going to stop here. I'm going to figure out.

 And if you are ever in the same place as me, I suggest you do the same. Because the answer is out there, and we don't have to live like this. We've been freed from having to believe in lies. So often, we just accept it because we don't think anything will ever change. But that's not true. God's plan for us is constant release into more and more freedom.

Join me in pushing forward to find the truth. Because the truth will set us free.

John 8: 31-36 - So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him,“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Why Growing in Christ is Like Learning Guitar

Photo by Louish Pixel

First off, if you've tried and failed at guitar, don't freak out.

Second, if you want to ACTUALLY learn how to play, my special fee for email list followers is $25 a lesson. Talk about incentives, right? I'm assuming everyone will be jumping all over that one.

I'm only one man, people. I can't teach everybody how to play.

SOOOO... Why is growing in Christ like learning how to play the guitar?

Well, I'll tell you.

It starts out crazy awesome...

We've had quite a journey, me and my trusty Washburn. I got her (or him) when I was a junior in high school, and we've been best friends ever since. I thumped down the stairs on Christmas morning to find ol' Washy just staring at me next to the tree, as if to say, "Laying with the rest of the presents is beneath me. And besides, I can't fit." I did nothing else for weeks.

When you first make a commitment to follow Christ, cloud nine ensues. You just feel like nothing is ever going to feel bad again, and nothing is ever going to change. Everything is just peachy.

And then it gets hard.

Learning guitar sounds great in theory -- You'll be able to play your favorite songs, rock in a band, impress all the ladies. And then you get into the nitty gritty. And then it gets hard. And then your fingers get swollen. And then you want to stop.

If you want to advance, it takes actual hard work. Sound familiar?

At some point in your Christian walk, you realize you have to actually sacrifice things when you follow Christ. You realize it doesn't feel good all the time. You realize studying the Bible and listening for God's voice is hard work. And sometimes you want to quit listening and go play guitar.

Sometimes you don't feel like you're getting better... 

There was a point in time where I woke up one morning after practicing guitar for three hours the night before, only to find out I was worse than when I had started yesterday. Talk about frustrating. Sometimes you put in a ton of practice, and you get minimal, if any, returns. Sometimes, it even seems like you've gotten weaker.

Does the term "backslidden" mean anything to you? Because I've had plenty of times where I wondered if the last few months or so of my spiritual life had been wasted. And sometimes, even when I'm putting forth the effort to study and learn, I just end up feeling more confused. It's hard to recognize you're growing when every day feels more confusing.

But when you zoom out, you are.

The times where I didn't see results in my guitar playing were always frustrating. But after a while, when I zoomed out from the daily graph to see the monthly or even the yearly graph, I saw the upward trend. I actually was getting better.

Going through trials has a similar way of making you feel like the wheels have come off. But when you zoom out, you can see how far you've come. You remember all the things you've already overcome to get to this point. And you realize God's been faithful, and you're closer now than you were a few years ago. And then, you recognize it -- you actually are growing.

And you're not really sure how.

The funny thing is, I didn't even recognize it. I just suddenly could play the songs I was practicing. And I didn't really know how or why my fingers just decided to finally work -- especially when they seemed so adamant about not working for the previous two months. They just did. And then I began to play full songs, which inspired me to learn more and practice even harder songs. And thus, I learned the rhythm of learning how to do new things. And I've never again been so discouraged by the process. Because I realized it was normal. I was normal.

One of my favorite verses right now is Mark 4:26-29, where Jesus describes living in His kingdom like this:

"A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Growing in Christ is like watering a seed. You don't have to make it grow; you just have to provide the right environment for it to grow. And then it grows by itself, in its own way, on its own time. And then finally, you look back, and there's something sticking out of the ground!

There's a rhythm to growing.

It's a correlation more than a steady incline.

Photo by Eric Fischer

 Some days you'll be higher than normal, and other days you'll be lower. But when you plot out the days and zoom out, you see they point upward... especially when you're consistently giving yourself the right environment to grow. James Clear, a blogger and weightlifter, wrote a great post about how whatever you do consistently gives you compounded results.

It's no wonder Paul compared growing in Christ to growing your physical body. Because all kinds of growing share the same rhythm.

And that's why growing in Christ is like learning to play guitar. It's all about the steady progress that comes from time and experience.


1 Timothy 4:7-8 - Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.