This week I am attending my organization’s annual
conference. It has been a great time of
learning, fellowship, and growth. I have
heard so many wise words from people I truly respect. I know that I will be chewing on the meaty
content they provided for many weeks to come.
Right now I want to take a moment to process one of the lesson that was
shared at the beginning of the week.
One of our speakers, Charlene, taught about growth through
the concept of boot camp. Growing up in
Dad is like attending military boot camp. You cannot attend boot camp and not
expect to be pushed to your limits, expanded, challenged, and ultimately
rewarded. Blood, sweat, pain and tears are expected when you enlist. However, there is this misconception in the
church that when we follow Him we are exempt from pain. There is a pervasive lie that if you are following
Him and being obedient, believers will be spared pain. That is just untrue and
not found in Scripture. Because of this lie we have unintentionally turned the
natural process of growing up in Him to be a sign of failure. Instead of coming beside our fellow boot camp
comrades and encouraging them as they grow to become more like Him, we silently
(or worse outwardly) judge people for being processed into His image.
Like in basic training, maturing in Dad is also a bonding
experience. When you have hardships and
rely on Sisters and Brothers, your relationship is deepened. There is a critical piece of community that
is missing when we do not support those around us who are growing. When we judge those who are currently
learning a lesson that we have “mastered”, we are harming the imago dei in them and ourselves. We cannot forget the pain that comes during
the growth process or we judge those who are still learning lessons we have
learned and are not supporting them like we are called to do.
Charlene took the boot camp analogy one step further. After basic training, each of us are then
enrolled into Navy Seal training for specialized training in different
areas. All SEAL’s go through a few weeks
of training together and then they have training in their specialty. Likewise, each person receives highly specialized
training in a specific area that the Father really needs them to become a
world-class specialist at. Charlene runs multiple businesses and has had many
years learning money management principles.
Everyone needs to learn to manage their money wisely, but since not
everyone is called to be a professional businessperson the lesson is not as
extensive as was for Charlene. She
reiterated that we need to support whatever lesson our sisters and brothers are
learning. Support people learning a
lesson you might have already learned and celebrate the fact that their lessons
seems harder than mine because that means that Dad is raising them up to be a
powerful influence in that area.
This word has been very challenging and freeing for me. I cannot compare my growth journey to those
around me. I am in an individualized
booth camp and SEAL training that will turn me into the person that He created
me to be. My lessons will look different
from those around me because He is calling me to something unique. As a leader this word was also very
convicting. If I judge those I am
leading for “being stuck” or wish they would “just get over this” particular
lesson, I am not being supportive of the work that Dad is doing in their
life. I need to celebrate each lesson
that people are going through. It is my
job to encourage them to press into the lesson, to remind them that they are
uniquely called and that this lessons is desperately needed for them to bring
change and light to the world.
It seems so simple but yet is incredibly profound. I pray that I will be able to celebrate
lessons and boot camp in a new way this year.
