14 April 2021

It started out as a small voice complaining that she could not get to sleep.  She was not tired. She needed to go to the toilet. She needed her fluffy slippers on. (In bed?? Where’s the logic?) She needed a drink, she was thirsty.

This was Willow, my three-year-old granddaughter.

And then finally (this brought a smile to my face), “I’m hungry! You don’t feed me!”

Her Mum, Melissa, went into her room and said, “Well you might have to eat more at the dinner table.” Melissa spoke to her quietly about some things and then Willow settled down to sleep.

Then two weeks later our entire family received a picture in our emails from Melissa.

“Look what I found under Willow’s pillow when I was changing the sheets for clean ones…”

It was a picture of an apple core and a whole apple hidden under the pillow.

Willow was “feeding” herself.

I laughed out loud.

Then I thought, we ALL need to do this. Not literally feed our bodies with an apple.

But our souls with God’s word.

The life of a Christian makes no sense unless it is a life of constant spiritual growth. A life of feeding ourselves so we can grow and mature and become holy as a follower of Christ.

To cease to grow, to feed, to nourish, to fertilise our spiritual lives is to become indifferent to God. It will stagnate our growth and we may become deaf to Christ’s constant loving call to us.

It is our duty and our joy to strive to grow toward Christ just like a flower or a plant grows towards the sun.

Now we don’t have to be perfect at it because to be honest none of us yet are perfect or are holy. That is what our lives entail – a continual turning to Christ, an ever-deepening growth in our relationship with Christ.

It is because of what Jesus Christ did for us on that Good Friday 2000 years ago that we can have this relationship with Our God.  It is by accepting this sacrifice, this outpouring of Love and Grace offered to us through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can grow spiritually.

Father Benedict Groeschel wrote that spiritual growth comes from “a powerful awareness of our longing for Christ’s presence, accompanied by a trustful surrender to Him of our personal needs.”

So, we need to seek after it – Seek and ye shall find.

We need to go and be fed by the Church and seek out more if we are hungry. Just like Willow. Just make sure it is healthy food for your soul, like an apple.

Over the next few weeks I will share with you different ways that you can build into your own spiritual growth.

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Is your spiritual life stagnate?

Are you feeding your spiritual growth?

What can you do to nourish and grow in your faith?