Feeling the Burn!: The Climb of Growth

Summer is here!

The days are long, the weather is hot, and school is out. All those are awesome, except you're with your family much more now. The school activities have stopped and you're left with a the echos of "I'M BORED!" ringing through your home every five minutes. With that much time together, tensions have a way of rising. Montana (My tween) has gone from constant dancing events and school to nothing. I've been enjoying not running around like a mad woman, but the lack of busy has left her a little sour to say the least. On top of that, her legs and body have been hurting and she’s constantly tired.

These elements have created the perfect storm of hormonal tween that has become agitated by everything I do. After a few weeks of snarky comments and groaning noises made anytime I spoke, I snapped a little. We ended arguing and going into our separate corners of the house. The next day while we were driving, Montana sat sheepishly in the front seat, glancing at me on and off. After a talking silence of about five minutes, I was the first to speak and apologize for my yelling. I was irritated and yes, she had an attitude, but it wasn’t right of me to react as strongly as I did. Montana then smiled and apologized for her part of our quarrel. Over the course of the this week, we pushed ourselves to talk it out instead of responding with automatic annoyance or anger.

Thinking on it yesterday, something came to mind. Growth can be hard. There're times we intentionally take time to grow and improve ourselves, it can still be difficult, but we know it‘s happening. Situations and circumstances that we can’t see the other side of or the solution to, those seasons are rough. Those are the times' growth is uncomfortable, annoying, unattractive, and the last thing we want to deal with.

So, we resist it.

The growing process isn’t an easy one, there're aches, pains, and tension at times. However, when we refuse to grow, we lose the chance to gain something from an experience that may be of value to us in the future or valuable wisdom to pass on to someone else. It’s hard to see the parts of ourselves we try to drown out in the busyness of life. When growth causes us to be in silence and reflect on who we are and what parts of ourselves we may not like or try to ignore, it can sometimes be downright unbearable. It can feel like being placed in front of a grand mountain that we feel is impossible to climb, so we become too scared to even try to step toward it. But like hiking is done a step at a time, so is growth. Each step gives us a different perspective from where we started. Eventually, we can see the progression from who we were at the valley to what we’ve become at the peak. The road up may have been full of stumbling, thorns, sunburns, and bugs, but the view is always worth the journey.

We’re always growing. Up until the day we pass on from this life, there’s something to be taught to us. It doesn’t always come easy, but I encourage you, keep growing anyways. Because while it may be the last thing you want to do at the time, it‘ll bring life and beauty.

That’s all from me this week! Try not to burn yourself in that summer heat and have a blessed weekend!