Why is Growing Up Like Having a Root Canal?

OK so maybe growing up isn't exactly like having a root canal...but...Over the past  few posts I have found myself thinking about ways in which I can actually GROW UP! Does the process have to be as dreaded as, say, a root canal?? AND Can it actually happen?  Don't you ever wonder if the life you really want, out side of the "slums" (referred to in the last few posts)…you know, practically speaking...can it really happen?  

I've never met anyone who wants to remain in a place of "stunted-ness", or bad habits, or just plain "badness", but to change requires action on our part that leads to growth.  And truthfully when I think of growing I think of pain, I think of grit, or I think of struggle. Which sounds nothing like the life I want and more like the life I try to avoid...like going to the gym, or worse, ...like a sudden torrent of surmounting devastation that seeks to steal any sense of well-being I may be enjoying at the present. (which in my world can be similar to going to the gym, ...just sayin’)  Rarely, if ever, do I Iook at opportunities for growth and say to myself, “YES! This is so entirely fantastic!!  I was hoping for this!  I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this remarkably stellar opportunity for such a glorious journey of growth to occur in my life!"  Nope…definitely not what I say.  But everything I wrote in the past three posts suggests that's exactly what I should be saying...(well perhaps with fewer embellishments...maybe.) 

If Christ's way is easy and not burdensome, if that kind of life leads to more and not less, then I should be glad or at the very least generously willing to embrace struggle for the sake of personal growth.  So what’s the deal with my inwardly resistant response? And if you tell me that you don’t feel this way sometimes, then I want to know what drug you are taking or what Pollyanna Planet you are from ‘cause if I actually believed you, I just might want to join you!

Perhaps the reason the idea of growing spiritually sounds more like a "torrent of surmounting devastation", than it does a "stellar opportunity for a glorious journey" is because I forget who my companion is and I need to find ways to encounter HIM more.  Bigger than the king of England, smarter than Einstein or Bill Gates, more commanding than any president we have ever known, and more genuinely loving and tender than any lover for which we could ever pine after, is the One who seeks to be our friend.
After all, that is the hope of Christ, right? Jesus came as Emmanuel, God is now with us, coming near, having laid down his life for us. And as we offer ourselves to Him, we receive His inheritance, His resources are now ours!   I don’t know about you, but that sure sounds like  "more" ...and...It sounds like a rich intimate friendship to me. It sounds like something that can lead me out of the "bad" and toward the "good".  So, the million dollar question is, How?.  How can a person stop the crazed hunt for the Novocain and begin to encounter God in ways that sustain a journey toward Christ-likeness and awaken us to a whole new way of life-giving friendship with Him?

Well, I believe it’s possible.  Really!  I do!  And the next several posts are going to be dedicated to just that.  I hope you join me on the journey and share your thoughts as we move along. 

Don’t worry the "sudden torrent" won’t steal your life away....

... but I'm not gonna lie to ya... avoiding it might!