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Path To Maturity

Weekly Thought – December 13, 2022

Fred chose to live in the active tense, rarely in passive voice. He deliberately made decisions. “Going with the flow” was not spoken in his life’s vocabulary. What were key words and concepts? Responsibility, maturity, character, productivity, discipline, and “profitable to the Master” represented him.

Path To Maturity

“Fred, what are you really talking about when you say maturity?” An excellent question.

It is certainly not old age though most of us mistakenly expect to reach maturity and old age simultaneously. Look around: don’t you see many immature, selfish, irritable, and narrow-minded old folks? They have not matured with age, and no matter how long they live they will stay the same as they are right now… or slip into even deeper immaturity.

Maturity is a path we choose consciously and follow conscientiously.

The younger one sets out on the path, the more opportunity they have to achieve maturity. The real satisfaction in reaching greater levels, the greater the benefits. There will be fewer mistakes to correct; fewer hurt feelings to mend; and many more compounded returns from good decisions.

“Well, Fred, if maturity is not old age, then what is it?”

My best definition is a quiet center surrounded by life segments. As a schematic it looks like a sliced grapefruit. The key for me is that all areas of my life are related and grouped around the center. I adopted the quiet center from the Quaker philosopher Thomas Kelley who felt every life should have a place in our heart that is immune to being disturbed and all is well. When I first read I envied him this and made it my aim to acquire such an attitude.

For me it had to be a dynamic quiet center, not a passive one. The difference is vital. I think of quiet as stable, and well-positioned like the turning gyroscope in the airplane’s instrument panel from which the other instruments get their direction.

Christ has this dynamic quietness that could not be thrown off course. Yet He could retreat into the desert for a visit with His Father. When people think of quiet as the passive absence of noise or disturbance they aren’t thinking clearly. It is not that at all. I remember the prize-winning picture of a bird on her nest in the crevice of the cliff while the storm whirled around her. Her confidence was in her quietness – in knowing what she should be doing – and doing it. That is peace.

This week think about: 1) How would I describe maturity? 2) What plan do I have to actively pursue maturity? 3) Who demonstrates gracious, wise, and mature aging?

Words of Wisdom: “Maturity is a path we choose consciously and follow conscientiously.”

Wisdom from the Word: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 NET Bible)

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