Growth Spurt

Is it really ever too late to have a growth spurt? It all depends on you what that means to you.

A few weekends ago my 10 year old nephew, my husband and I camped our way from here to my nephews home on the Washington coast. One night we camped in northwest Nebraska. The stars were incredible and my nephew asked me to sleep outside with him without a tent. My husband turned away trying to conceal his laugh because he knew that I would not be able to say "no". I only see my nephew 4 days a year and when I do, it's all about him.

So, we slept outside in sleeping bags and I am so glad we did. We didn't notice the ground being hard, bugs or even the cold. We talked about the stars, family and the world until he fell asleep. His last words before he drifted off were "aunt Tina, I think you are about to have a growth spurt". I laughed to myself, I have not grown any taller since the 6th grade.

As I watched him sleep I thought about his words. All of them. People are capable of an emotional growth spurt at any age. Sometimes it is forced, sometimes it is chosen, sometimes it is the natural progressive result of time and age.

This reminded me about something that was earlier on my mind. Some people easily forgive others when they feel they are wronged, especially if there is an apology. An apology goes a long way. Why? Does it change anything? You can't change the past, a right does not erase the wrong. Maybe we feel that if a person apologizes whether sincere or not, it still means a lot that they at least apologized in an effort to make us feel better. Sometimes we just choose to move on with or without an apology.

What about when people we care about are wronged? They often do the same, they move on and forgive the other person, but we don't! We stay angry for them and have a hard time forgiving. Do we even notice that we are the ones that lose because we become the one on the outside on many occasions? We intentionally avoid events we know that person will be at. Guess what? We can forgive them too. Forgiveness is a very powerful and freeing strength.

I personally know I have many things to work on. With prayer, awareness and effort I hope I do have a "Growth Spurt".

Wishing you all a week of powerful forgiveness and incredible personal growth.