What I learned in March

Another day of snow.  The amount we'd been getting was absurd.  But this one particular day, there was an amazing snowfall.  Even though I really, really wanted to complain, I just couldn't.  It was way to beautiful.  As I drove to work, I looked at the trees along my route.  Each covered perfectly with a velvety ribbon of white.  Just amazing.  How could I possibly complain?  So as I drove, I took it all in.  Any other day, maybe the snow would not have received such a welcome, but this day, it did.  I decided to celebrate instead of complain.  So what happened?  Well, my disposition changed.  Since then, I focused on a simple prayer.  Lord, change me.  Three little words.  Because when it comes down to it, the driver for my mood is my attitude, my perspective, my thinking...all of it.  Learning and saying these three little words was a huge graduation for me.  It gave me a sense of peace and relief.  That is, until I learned a new way to pray just last week.  During a small-group study, I grasped the simple notion that God isn't in the business of changing me, He is in the business of redeeming me.  Daily.  Minute by minute.  Wow!  He wants to see a better version of me come into reality.  A truer version of me.  A version of me that He sees.  That He created.  So, my prayer changed to a new three word prayer.  Now I say, Lord, grow me.  I love that, and how appropriate as we enter the supreme season of growth all around us.  Lord, grow us!!

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:15-16