A Growth Perspective

How do you define success? How do you measure growth? Do you think growth only occurs if there is a constant upward trajectory? I’ve been challenged this week about my view of growth and it’s been so good. It can be all too easy to “compare and despair” when it comes to growth and success and as I continued to think about it, I realized that success and growth often has a lot to do with your perspective. Depending on how you’re looking at a situation, you could see a lot of encouraging growth or you could be disappointed by what you’re perceiving as a lack of growth. The situation might not have changed, but two people could see something completely different — simply because they have a different perspective.

When I look at the Bible, I can see how different perspectives can radically change how a situation is perceived. Whether you’re looking at Joseph, Noah, Daniel, Paul, or even Jesus — you’ll view their lives differently based on your own perspective. All of their victories are only seen as victories because we, as believers, are able to see how God used them for His glory. To someone without the heart or eyes to see God’s handiwork woven throughout their stories, they might not be able to understand how much growth they experienced in their lives or see them as successful in being obedient to God. Aside from Jesus, all the men and women in all of history that are viewed as successful, also have many moments of failure throughout their stories. While Jesus never failed, not even for a second, there were and are people who missed out because their perspective was off. Sometimes when we think we’re failing or not growing, it’s really because we need a perspective change.

Last weekend Marc and I went to our first market to sell my Sourdough Bread and baked goods and, while it was chilly, it was so much fun! I was able to meet new people and we sold 47/48 of the loaves of bread we brought! It was such a blessing and I’m so grateful to everyone that came out and supported us. On the flip side, we also brought Coconut Sugar and Cinnamon Sourdough Scones and Browned Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies and definitely brought way more than we ended up needing. It could be easy to look at that as a failure because I was way off on my estimation for those items, but instead I’m choosing to learn from it and view it as an opportunity for growth. Growth isn’t always a constant upward trajectory, sometimes it takes twists and turn along the route and even requires going backward sometimes in order to move forward again. It’s okay if your growth and/or success rate are different than someone else’s, we were all created on purpose for a purpose and while I believe the ultimate purpose is the same for each of us — to glorify God in all that we do — the “how” will look different for each of us.

I’ve often heard the phrase, “Don’t compare your chapter 2 to someone else’s chapter 20.” In other words, don’t compare your beginning to someone who is already further down the path than you are because all the work that you’re putting in now — they already did. Jesus meets each of us right where we’re at and helps us along the journey of our lives. He is right there to grow us and teach us in exactly the way we should go throughout our lives — we just need to be open to listening to Him. His obedience to The Father led to our salvation. While it didn’t look “good” to the majority of people when He died on the cross, it was His death and resurrection that became the greatest, best thing to ever happen since the beginning of time. Without His obedience, we’d be lost and hopeless. His death didn’t look like growth or success — in fact, it looked like loss and defeat — But God! God took what appeared to be the biggest setback of all time and made it the biggest, most profound comeback of all time. He is truly good all the time and He can see far beyond what we can and we can trust Him.

What I’ve been reminded of this week is that growth and success are both largely rooted in perspective. I’ve been reminded that having a setback doesn’t mean growth has stopped, sometimes it’s the very thing required to encourage an increase in growth. It reminds me of pruning a plant — to cut away parts in order for new, stronger growth to occur. Life is filled with pruning and God is the Master Gardener. He knows that pruning can feel painful, but He also knows what new, stronger growth can happen once pruning has taken place. I’ve been reminded that my growth and success will not look like someone else’s and that’s completely okay and very normal. I’ve been reminded that growth isn’t a constant upward, vertical trajectory and that growth can happen in the valleys and on the mountaintops of life.

So, the next time you’re tempted to think that you’re failing at something, try taking a step back and shifting your perspective. Sometimes there is clearly room for major improvements and other times we’re just not looking at the situation with an accurate perspective. Allow God to enter into the places were you feel like you’re failing or experiencing stunted growth. Give Him all your feelings of inadequacy and ask Him to give you the proper perspective. Oh, and when you do have a setback — because you will — ask Him to use it for His glory and the good of the people around you that He might turn it into a comeback and give you a testimony to share of His goodness and faithfulness!

Song(s) of the Week: This week I chose “The Comeback” by Danny Gokey. Enjoy!