Growth...

...peculiar to man, it is part of our uniqueness in the created order of things.

It seems to me a lot like turning a bend in a woodland road. Only for a moment can you see both how far you've come and how far you have to go. With only the slightest move either way, the opposite direction becomes just the stuff of memory and planning.
And again I see the wisdom locked in the Gospels.



Growth as a response to a recognized calling:
Mat 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Growth as the result of a daily interactive walk:
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Growth in the form of spiritual awakening:
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them (Peter, James, and John): and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Yet when they arrived at this monumental place of perception, He anticipated that their next step of growth would not be easy, for He told the parable of a householder who chose to pay both those who worked all day and those who worked but an hour the same wage. But fairness and grace were not ready to co-exist at this stage of growth; even as He shared this tale defining grace, their minds swirled with thoughts over who among them would be the greatest in His kingdom of heaven.

Thus on the heels of this awakening-growth--a growth that sprang from their faith maturing, on its heels came another growth, less pleasant but necessary. It was the growth of the falling away, the sloughing off, the divorcing of those portions within that could not abide with the newness of life that invaded their souls:
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons (James and John), worshipping [him], and desiring a certain thing of him.
And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom...
...And when the ten heard [it], they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

And He asked: Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
So here is that bend in the road: Behind are the steps where we learned to accept that He is good, ahead are the steps where we will learn to accept that our own eyes are inherently evil (ambitious.) We must move forward in order to leave behind us this ambition that attempts to calculate itself into our new awareness of Him.

Look behind you, James and John, and see back to the days before you believed. Look behind you, Peter, and see back to the days before you were tempted to compare yourself to your fellow disciples. The temptations were not there because none of you really calculated Him to be your Master yet.

Now look ahead, and see the road before you, where pride is broken and humility is born and the dramatic vision is made real, but so differently than you expected...with wrenching and strain and sacrifice. But remember this one thing as you make your decision to trudge ahead...all but the one of you named Judas. Remember that once this stretch of road was not even available to your feet.
You didn't think to seek a throne
until you believed there was a kingdom.
Such is the nature of growth.