Pursue: Growth.

“Growth is uncomfortable. It’s often awkward, confusing, frustrating and equally challenging. It can be raw and it certainly is refining, but it’s necessary. When we allow ourselves to seek growth in areas of our lives that have been stagnant, we open ourselves up to opportunities we may have never thought were possible.”

I’ve had an obsession with plants for a little while now. The spotting of a new sprout, the uncurling of a new leaf, the removing of old leaves, the repotting and the propagating… the list could go on, but all of it is such an adventure! I will have to be honest though and say I never started off as a “green thumb.” I feel like when I first decided to get into this plant hobby, I was more of a grey thumb. I had to look after a small tree not too long ago, which I only watered once and later found out it had been dead for 3 months.

We see so many analogies of plants and gardens in Scripture that it’s a constant reminder of our nature as human beings. Like plants, we’re designed to grow, bloom and change over a period of time, and like plants, we also need particular “conditions” to help support our growth.

1. Pursuing growth first starts with our mindsets.

And changing a mindset begins with intention. Let’s go to the first garden ever recorded in Scripture: Eden. When God created the garden and placed human beings in that garden, there was an intention and that intention had a purpose. Genesis 2:8 tells us, “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there He put the man he had formed.” The word Eden holds the definitions of “delight”, “pleasure” or “Heaven” and “Paradise.”

Many of you would be familiar with the story and how the serpent tempts Eve in the Garden. In this moment, a seed of doubt is sown into the “Eden”, or state of peace and delight in her mind. This seed then produces a weed that leads to disobedience, and the result? Sin and brokenness and separation affecting all of history altogether. So whether you believe the reality of the narrative or not, what you and I can learn from this story is that our minds are powerful and what we allow into them has the potential to radically change not just our reality, but the reality of those around us for better, or for worse.

Ephesians 4:22 teaches us this: “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through the deceitful desires, and so 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.” Growth needs a releasing, a shedding and a “putting off” of what longer serves us or hinders our growth, and a putting on of the things that will accelerate or activate it. All this, however, begins in our minds.

2. Growth demands change.

Not everyone likes change. It’s easy to accept comfort rather than discomfort and for many of us, there’s nothing more comforting than routine, predictability and constancy. We like things that are familiar and can be quick to criticise or reject what isn’t. The reality of growth however is that it’s either be prompted by change, or it leads us to change. Whether it’s small or radically significant, we can’t always avoid change and if you’ve lived a little longer than 4 years, I think you’d agree! So how does this apply to gardens or plants? Well, change is all around them — the change of conditions, the change of seasons or the change of environment. But not only is there change happening externally, there are also changes that are happening internally because there’s life within that plant. Life is designed to evolve rather than remain stagnant, and even if a plant has peaked its physical growth, there is still life within it allowing it to thrive.

Every garden is also at risk of being dominated by weeds. I’m sure you’ve seen a garden that was almost made up purely of weeds because no one had been able to tend to it — it might even be your own garden and you just haven’t gotten around to the task yet! When we lose sight of prioritising our growth, we could spend years watering weeds and tending to something that actually would be better off being rooted out so that new, healthy life, can spring forth. This could look like choosing to no longer water the weeds of self-condemnation or judgement, and choosing to think and speak positively about yourself and others. It could look like choosing to forgive rather than holding onto bitterness. It could look like choosing to have courage and stepping out into that opportunity that’s been presented in front of you rather than shrinking back in fear. One small change could lead to an incredible transformation in your world.

“Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Romans 12:2

3. Growth requires work.

The thing about the most beautiful gardens is that people took the time to plant beautiful plants in them. Growth can be praised for all its glory but not everyone witnesses the labour, the sacrifice and the discipline that it needs. Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and out him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Like plants, we need tending to, we need healthy soil, pruning, light and water, but most of all, healthy plants, and the most beautiful gardens, need a carer — someone to work it and take care of it. Luckily we have a God who is in the business of that and also graciously gives us every tool we need to be involved in that process.

While there’s a part we play in our growth, we also don’t do this in isolation. We need people around us who we can journey with, people we can trust to help us identify our blind spots (or spot the weeds), people who can teach us from their own experiences and people who will even work on the field with us.

When we seek growth in areas of our lives, whether it’s our relationships, in our careers, with a particular skill or gift, it always begins in our mind and our minds require the kind of “garden work” if we ever want to see any fruit. It’s not always instant and it certainly can be seasonal. Growth is uncomfortable. It’s often awkward, confusing, frustrating and equally challenging. It can be raw and it certainly is refining, but it’s necessary. When we allow ourselves to seek growth in areas of our lives that have seemed stagnant, we open ourselves up to opportunities we may never have thought possible.

Mwati Tembo9 June 2021