Growth Is Not Accidental by Maxie Dunnam

Growth is not accidental – it is intentional, purposeful. There are leaps which we make unconsciously, and great strides in development often come as by-products. Primarily, however, we make the decision to grow. This is not to say that we manufacture growth. We don’t, no more than a doctor manufactures healing. We simply become persons open to the possibility and give ourselves to the conditions in which growth takes place. What are these conditions?

If we have been feeling stuck or stunted, most of us will probably have to begin by changing the focus of our life. We have lived either in the past or in the future. The past drags us down and fear of the future immobilizes us. Many are able to free themselves of the past. The forgiveness of God becomes a reality and they are able to leave the burdensome yesterdays behind. They look freshly to the future, but the uncertainty of it petrifies them.

There may be an even more common problem than either of these. Not a morbid memory of the past which drains our energies, or a fear of tomorrow which paralyzes us, but anticipating the future as the time of real possibility this is the false focus. It is as though we were saying, “I’ll begin to live tomorrow!” Tomorrow can look so inviting, so challenging, so alluring. We are seduced by distant horizons that beckon us, and life is never really lived.

We need to change our focus to today, to now. This is the moment God has given us. It is the only moment over which we have any control. The past is history. We cannot affect it or change it. What is written is written! The future is unreal, because it is not yet ours. Today is the only real time.