Growing Up

Elyse is already 7.5 months old and I'm still trying to figure out where the time went! It's so much fun getting to watch her grow up and learn new things each day. This past week she has finally decided that it is worth her time to roll from her belly to her back and that sitting up is far more fun than laying down. Two huge milestones in just a week! She actually rolled over months ago, but until this week I could count on one hand the number of times it has happened. It just wasn't worth it to her. Now she is experimenting with her new-found mobility and learning how much fun it is to sit up and play with her brothers rather than to lay idly beside them watching.

Every time that Elyse tries to sit independently she takes a risk. On the road to learning how to crawl and walk, there will be many bumps and bruises, lots of falls and tears, but in the end she will succeed. She's not going to be content to just lay on the floor and watch life happen around her.

How often do we sit back and watch life happen rather than jump in with both feet? Maybe we're afraid of what might happen or maybe we're just apathetic. Sometimes we convince ourselves that we can't do what God is asking of us because we just don't want to do it or it's not comfortable to us. It would be ridiculous to suggest that Elyse would never walk because everyone else would care for her or that she deemed it too difficult. So why do we do the same thing with God?

It's easy to stay safe, not rocking the boat. We're afraid of what other people will think and it's often much less resistance to merely maintain the status quo rather than to take risks. God doesn't call us to live safe lives but He does call us to be obedient to Him no matter the cost. Are we willing to risk our relationships, our jobs, or our ministries, or even our lives to reach a lost world for Christ?

1 Corinthians 13:11 - When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.