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Growth – Part 2

let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance - Proverbs 1:5

If you are serious about growth, here are four things you must do:

1. Make a commitment to change. Most of us want things to get better without having to change anything. To grow, you must commit yourself to not only accepting change but to seeking it! Listen: 'Let us...go on to maturity...' (Hebrews 6:1)

2. Focus on your strengths. Peter Drucker said, 'The great mystery is not that people do things badly, but that they occasionally do things well. The only thing that is universal is incompetence. Strength is always specific. Nobody ever commented that the great violinist, Jascha Heifetz, couldn't play a trumpet very well.' If you try to be good at everything, you will end up good at nothing. God gave you specific gifts. Find them and use them for His glory!

3. Put yourself in a growth environment. Certain fish grow according to the size of their environment. Put them in a small aquarium and they remain small. Release them into the ocean and they grow to their intended size. And you are the same! If you spend your time with the wrong crowd in the wrong place doing the wrong things, you will never experience growth.

4. Learn to enjoy the journey. Most Grand Masters of chess learn and relearn their moves over a period of 15 years before winning their first world title. That is almost a fifth of their lives! If you are going to spend that much time doing something, you had better like it. If the destination appeals to you but you are not enjoying the journey, you would be wise to seek God's guidance and make sure you are heading in the right direction.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, Help me to not look at mistakes or failures as the end but to see them as things I can learn from and go forward with. Thank you for being with me in the good and the bad. In Jesus’ Name, Amen