Only God can make things grow, because real growth takes place at the level of microcosmic gradations guided by wisdom. For a person to live at this level, either for himself or in his relations with others requires the gifts of truth and love which only flow from the Spirit.

The image or model we have of how things grow is extremely important. It is important for us, since we are constantly faced with decisions as to how to proceed in order to become what the Lord envisions us to be. It is also important in our God-given work, because we must decide what will be the best way to foster personal, familial, cultural, or any other kind of growth for which we are responsible.

When you really think about it, we are constantly making decisions which deal precisely with the becoming of things. But becoming is not necessarily growth. "How do things grow?" is an extremely important question.

I believe that the best model for growth is nature, and it is the model most often used in Scripture to explain how people grow.

In the very first psalm, the just man is likened to a tree that is planted by living water, yielding its fruit in due season (1:3). In Psalm 91, we read, the just will flourish like the palm tree, and grow like the Lebanon cedar (91:13). And in Hosea, I will fall like dew on Israel, and he shall bloom like the lily (14:6).

Then in the New Testament there are the parables of Jesus about the Word of God (Lk 8:11-15) and the kingdom of God (Mt 13:31), both of which grow like seeds.

The basic truth about growth is that it is gradual and happens at a level almost impossible to be aware of. Did you ever sit and try to watch a flower grow?

Because we can envision with our minds the goal toward which the growth is tending, we become impatient.

Impatience makes us race over the necessary intermediate steps. In this running ahead of God, we make things happen, but we are not necessarily assisting God in true growth.

True growth requires humility—the patience to let things and people grow little by little, since this is the only way they can.

Love, in this growth context, means reaching out toward the things which will bring us to our goal as envisioned by God. Go on growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:13).

Reaching out toward Christ, and to everything in keeping with the mind of Christ, is true growth. Jesus himself, and the power and the wisdom to reach out toward him, and the humility to feel our way toward him one step at a time—all these are gifts of God. Thus, God is the source of this transformation process.

Only God can make things grow. Our task is to help plant and water (1 Cor 3:6).

The Epistle to the Ephesians gives us a key. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ (4:16).