How do YOU grow?
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle-shells
And pretty maids all in a row!”
If you were raised in an English-speaking environment, there is a good chance you recognize this old English nursery rhyme from Mother Goose. No one is certain of its origin and it comes in several variations. It has also been the object of all sorts of speculation as to hidden meaning and significance – all the stuff of legend and myth.
Our theme this year has been one word – grow. All healthy living organisms grow. If you have been feeling a bit contrary yourself lately, it could be that you need to ask yourself the same type of question that was asked of contrary Mary. How do YOU grow?
I have been reflecting on the theme of human growth as we have moved through this year and am planning a major emphasis this Fall. It is perilous to be too simplistic, but the more I look at this theme, the more convinced I am that human growth has three key elements: grace, truth and time. There are obviously more details and dimensions, but sometimes it is good to reduce things to their most basic elements in order to see the big picture. After all, Jesus once reduced the entire Old Testament to two simple rules: love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40).
Listen to the words of John’s Gospel. In this Gospel that focuses on knowing Jesus as God in human form, the emphasis on his nature is reduced to two elements: grace and truth.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17
Consider the implications:
- Truth without grace results in legalism. Legalism actually promotes sin and results in the death of true spirituality (Galatians).
- Trying to latch on to grace without truth results in chaotic, out-of-control life with no boundaries.
- Expecting to get grace and truth and have all your problems disappear overnight results in total frustration. Growth takes time.
If there are the biblical elements of growth, then where do you get them? How do you get them? How long does it take to get them? Or, as the nursery rhyme suggests, how do you, as a individual, grow? Don’t just say that you need to read the Bible and pray more. Be specific. Where do you go to get grace, and how? Where do you get truth? How? Are you allowing sufficient time in your life for these elements to take root and grow? What is the role of time in your personal growth?
Sadly, many professing followers of Jesus don’t seem to have the will or the time to grow. They might identify more with the parody of the old nursery rhyme by Roald Dahl in Ryhme Stew.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
“I live with my brat in a high-rise flat
so how in the world would I know.”