Dawn Day 4: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

You should know I cold stared down a Little Debbie Swiss Roll last night. It cowered on fear of me. Heather is surviving now on a diet consisting mainly of egg salad. By no means do we want to over dramatize the situation. There are millions of people who do not have the luxury of having even seven foods readily available and we are complaining about having to eat them for a week. I don't want to be guilty of that but what I want to praise is how we are getting stronger. We aren't getting stronger through our own will in isolation, but through using this to grow closer to him, and relying on each other.

Recently I did a writing lesson on audience and purpose. When the adults in the class were finishing up their first piece of writing and I was conferencing with them individually I asked them,"What is your purpose for writing this piece?" and "Who is it for?" Most said, "Well, I haven't thought about it. I just wanted you to check it for mistakes." Well, here is what is eye-opening with revision and editing. It changes depending on your audience and purpose. For example when I wrote a piece about growing up fishing in Abner Creek for my brother, I wrote it in first person just to Him. It was shorter and concise and I dedicated it to him. That same summer when I saw a call for submissions for outdoor adventures in the Upstate through a local press I edited the piece, adding details and changing some of the grammatical structures because it was for a different audience.  

I feel that this applies to us as believers. Whenever we impose something on ourselves as believers because others are doing it, because it is a trend or a fad, or for an outside purpose that is more for the world than for spiritual growth we may have goals such as dieting to fit into a dress or doing a book study to gain approval, but the results are compartmentalized to that one purpose and when it is met, the results are short lived. Whenever we embark on a goal through the purpose of growing closer to Christ, not only do we have the Holy Spirit's power and guidance to help us meet that goal, but we also have way more than the temporal outcomes, we have the everlasting outcome of spiritual growth.

So I am saying all of this to say, yes the Swiss Debbie Cake roll appeared to me as a loss for a brief moment last night. I know at the time when Heather was sitting at the Yogurt shop watching Frac and Ro devour a tasty dessert there was loss...What we are learning is that it is worth the brief pang of loss to have the greater purpose of spiritual growth.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger!

Dawn