Vol III: #55 Growth
Have you heard corn grow? I have. On a breezeless June afternoon in a cornfield in western Pennsylvania, I heard the corn grow. The noise was soft and sounded like something between a squeak and a squirt, the audible evidence of constant growth. I don’t know if you’d hear corn grow if it were only one plant or even twenty. But among the hundreds and thousands of stalks, the tiny bursts created a delightful effect. I laughed as I stood and listened with my eyes closed. Even a blind man would know the corn was healthy and living as it should. No eyes needed.
This is what’s good about a school or class, the ability to measure growth and see progress as part of a group. Because when we are alone, no one is around to hear see our growth or witness our pops of brilliance. The only measuring stick is what we see in the mirror. And the person we see today is similar to the person we saw yesterday, just slightly more so. There is ease at being in the middle of a pack, a tribe hunting and gathering in the modern time. But, on our own? Without gold stars, bonuses, or plaques? The way we live outside of schools and communities and the progress we make, this is who we really are.
As I see it, there are two big hurdles to clear as we navigate life outside the Greenhouse or away from the fields. One, to deny and condemn all the lies that tell us we are anything other than who we are- children of God. And two, that God isn’t God. The evil in the world wants you and me to believe we are anything other than the corn we were called and created to be. But never waver or forget. You were planted were you are and you are growing. Even if we can’t hear it, or see it…no one walks with the Lord and remains unchanged.
