Looking at my fireplace today, I was reminded of when our daughter was a baby. Built out from the floor of the fireplace is a ledge of bricks about four feet in length and maybe 2 inches high.
As new parents we were determined to keep her away from that ledge. Our minds swirled as we envisioned our beautiful baby girl with a big, ugly gash on her head from falling onto those bricks. But try as we might, she would always find her way back to them.
One day, much to our surprise, she stepped up onto the ledge of bricks, and then stepped down off of them! Because she was still pretty clumsy at walking, this was a major feat for her--and we let her know it. We applauded as if she had just performed her first piano concerto. And, like most kids, she offered the courtesy of performing encore after encore to sounds of our applause.
I thought today about how things would have been different if we had kept her away from the bricks, the hard things. She wouldn't have developed in her mobility skills as quickly as she did. She wouldn't have the confidence that she did to even try to maneuver herself down from those bricks. In the same way, the contact that we have in our lives with hard things (our bricks) cause us to grow and develop in godliness. Yes, it can be scary to us and to others. But when we take those small steps to mature in our faith, God moves in leaps and bounds in our lives.
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