Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.

We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Ephesians 4:14-15

Healthy things grow. As long as they are cared for, given food, water, and protection, they mature. It doesn’t happen overnight, but slowly. Like trees, sometimes things grow so slowly, we don’t even notice, until they begin producing fruit.

Given the right circumstances, your heart grows, too. When it is well-fed by the bread of life (John 6:35), watered by rivers of living water (John 7:38), and protected by your loving God (Psalm 18:30), it matures. Sometimes, the “right” circumstances feel more like struggles, but still it grows, because the struggles remind you to lean into God. The Holy Spirit shapes and molds your heart to look just like Jesus’ heart, but it takes time. The more time you spend with Him, the faster your heart will grow. 

You may not notice the maturity, the work the Holy Spirit is doing in your heart. Then one day you will realize your heart is lighter, your smile is bigger, and your eyes are looking for others to serve, rather than looking to be served. And like trees, you will know you are growing when you begin producing fruit. (Galatians 5:22-23) You are loved! 

“God takes six hours to make a mushroom and sixty years to make an oak tree.

Do you want to me a mushroom or an oak tree?” ~Rick Warren