Growing Pains

My baby boy, who stands about six feet two inches tall, commented to me yesterday, “Mom, I think I just might hit 6’5”!” Hearing what he said, my always inquisitive younger daughter asked him, “What makes you say that?” to which he responded, “Because I can feel the growing pains.”

“How do you know what you’re feeling is growing pains?” my daughter inquired.

“Because it’s the exact same feeling I felt the last four times I went through a growth spurt,” he said with a big smile.

Immediately, my mind went back to the time my son experienced growing pains for the very first time. There was no smile to be found – just groans of agony and a desire for relief. When he called out to me and told me what he was feeling, I explained to him what he was experiencing was growing pains. Then I asked him, “Didn’t you say you wanted to be six feet tall?” “Yes,” he responded. “Then there’s a level of pain you’re going to have to experience as your bones stretch and grow to new heights.”

The very same unrecognizable pain my five foot one son wanted to go away just a few short years ago, is now the very same welcomed pain my six foot two son is excited about today.

There are many of us who want to be spiritual giants but don’t want to have to experience any level of pain. We don’t want to be stretched. We don’t want to have to grow. And we certainly don’t want to have to experience it over and over again.

If we really want to rise to the heights God has for us to go, then there should come a point when we recognize the growing pains for what they are. I’m in no way saying they’ll be easy or comfortable, but I am saying when we know the outcome they produce, it should cause us to be much more willing to endure. When we recognize the spiritual growth in our lives, we can get to the point where we see the growing pains simply as a light affliction. It may not be pleasant for us to go through but we know we will be more powerful when we come out.

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