Jeannette’s always #1. I am #2 (at least the second person to sign up for the Tulip Time race in 2014). Picture taken on Tulip Lane located between our house and the church below.
Ground breaking in 2014 for a new addition to Fourth Reformed Church (Jeannette and I are on the far right)
I want to keep growing. I want to keep building too. How about you?
Reading through the Bible…Psalm 105-6/I Corinthians 3
You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. (I Corinthians 3:8-9)
We are, according to Paul, God’s field. We are put on this earth to be earth, to grow things and people (including ourselves).
I get my yearly medical check up last week. The medical assistant, on loan from a local high school, weighs me. Then, he measures me.
My doctor wants to know whether I am growing out or growing up. The first option is more likely than the next. We actually shrink when we get older because of changes in the spine.
Paul, conversely, wants to know if I am growing in. He measures not physical growth, but spiritual growth. In another passage he reminds us that even though our bodies may be wasting away (shrinking), our inner natures are being renewed day by day. (II Corinthians 4:16)
Paul suggests that we are God’s field, meant to grow ourselves and others internally and spiritually. Paul also suggests that we are God’s house.
Individually, God wants us to build our physical bodies so that the Holy Spirit can have a place to live. Corporately, God wants us to build places for entire groups of people to inhabit.
We are God’s field designed to grow. We are God’s houses designed to build.
Writing…
A while back Trump “…paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” (Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell). Well, not exactly. He didn’t pave paradise. He just paved over sections of the rose garden in front of the White House. After all, “he never promised us the rose garden” (Lynn Anderson).
This is not a criticism. This is imply an observation. Trump seems to be more of a builder, than a grower. He seems to prefer a nonorganic to an organic approach to leadership:
In the context of business, "organic" and "non-organic" (often referred to as inorganic) refer to different approaches to growth and expansion. Organic growth is the expansion of a company's business through its own resources and efforts, such as developing new products, entering new markets, or increasing sales through its existing operations. Inorganic growth, on the other hand, involves external strategies like mergers, acquisitions, or strategic alliances to achieve rapid expansion (google AI with “Indeed” as the source)
Building…
Trump wants to keep growing. So do I.
As God’s field, I realize there are limits to my physical growth. I can’t keep growing OUT and UP. I can, however, grow IN.
I can grow fruit, at least when I get some help. As God’s field, I can grow the fruits of the Holy Spirit who will shack with me, if I ask Her. Ruah (the Hebrew feminine noun for Spirit) will grow in me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
I want to keep growing. I also want to keep building.
The two churches I attend are both considering building and/or remodeling programs. I want to join them in providing fully accessible, people friendly places, where people can come together.
I also (thanks in part to my late wife Jeannette’s Brownson Properties business) own a few houses. I want those properties to be affordable “Houses of Prayer for all people”.
I want to contribute to the building of first places (homes). I want to join in building second places (workplaces). Finally, I want to engage in building third places (churches and public spaces)
I want to create space in my own heart for the Holy Spirit to inhabit. I want to create space in my own community for other people to inhabit.
I want to keep growing. I want to keep building.
How about you?
I want to keep growing and building as well.