We need the right living conditions in order to grow. And this includes having adequate room to stretch and expand ourselves. In short, we must have the room to grow into our potential.
God has wired us to adjust to our surroundings fairly easily.We adapt. And this gives us tremendous freedom to be okay in many different situations.
But sometimes our environment stunts our growth. And our adapting has simply lead to settling for the status quo. This is how things have always been and we accept it without question.
Occasionally we must step back and reflect on our living conditions.
Is our environment giving us the room we need to grow?
Just as we might move into a larger house to adjust to the needs of our growing family, we often need intentional expansions throughout our life and relationships as well.
For instance, we might need to expand our social networks. Our growth is limited when we only associate with people like us. Forming intimate relationships with people who are different allows us to grow.
This plays out mentally as well. We don’t grow by simply listening to people we already agree with. We grow by taking the tour and entering into someone else’s point of view.
Likewise, we have the space to grow when we surround ourselves with those committed to generously offering their strength rather than merely settling for being another cog in the machine.
To grow we must continually put ourselves in situations and surround ourselves with people who are beyond our current stage of development.
This gives us the needed breathing room to try new things, to wrestle with our inner selves, and to expand and grow into our potential.
Make room to grow.
