All that we need is already promised to us, already out there or we already possess it.
In the past year I’ve experienced a lot of “growing pains” – a lot of pruning and shedding of skins. The process has been hard, hurtful, scary, and has left me feeling very vulnerable. Also, I’ve had a lot of fun and have seen many fruits from the new growth.
Molting is the process of shedding old feathers, hair, skin, or an old shell, to make way for a new growth. There is a season after a crab molts its shell in which it is very vulnerable and must hide in sand to avoid predators. The new shell is very soft and takes time to harden.
The new shell is creating room for the crab’s new and continual growth.
It’s as if I’m in between seasons. The season of hiding, solitude, and letting go of the old parts of me that were no longer fruitful. I’m moving into the season of no longer hiding, continued solitude while also joining others in my wounds, and offering others the grace that’s been freely given to me – and receiving God’s outstretched hand.
Everything I’ve needed for this new growth was ready there available to me. God’s love, strength, grace and mercy.
Knowing we are loved is the foundation to our new growth. God shows us that we are loved in many ways – through relationships, nature, his word, etc. Really, I think God shows us his love in the way He knows we will best receive it.
But we must receive it and accept it.
Ask yourself: Have I created space to receive God’s love or are my hands full with things or relationships that I need to let go of?
There’s a quote by M. Basil Pennington in his book Centered Living, that I’ve chewed on and has been helpful in my “growing pains”.
“God is infinitely patient He will not push himself into our lives. He knows the greatest thing he has given us is our freedom. If we want habitually, even exclusively, to operate from the level of our own reason, he will respectfully keep silent. We can fill ourselves with our own thoughts, ideas, images, and feelings. He will not interfere. But if we invite him with attention, opening the inner spaces with silence, he will speak to our souls, not in words or concepts, but in the mysterious that Love expresses itself- by presence.
Cory Faubion
LIFE COACH, MENTOR, TEAM BUILDER