No intro or warm up, I’ll get to my point. My soul (and yours) is not so much fixed as it is grown. It is apparent that our souls are in need.
Something is broken, missing or deficient. If we are in tune with our interior, we see the need daily. We also understand that the need of our souls is beyond our souls. We are not self-sufficient for our own restoration. We have learned that help is found in God. So, when we look to God for His help, what do we want Him to do? Often, we want Him to fix us…. that is misplaced.
I am surrounded by things that break and need to be fixed. So, a trip to the hardware store or an appointment with a mechanic will usually remedy the situation. It will cost me some time and more dollars than I want, but at least the item will be working again. That mindset is fine if we are talking about toasters, but I am not a toaster. Souls are not machines that can be restored with replacement parts. It would be great if I could take my soul to a professional, leave it in the shop for a few hours, and get it back running smoothly and even washed. We know that’s foolish, but it’s often what we ask God to do. Just fix us! Take out the bad parts, put in good ones and send us on our way with some sort of warranty. Fix our hurts. Repair our mistakes. Restore our dis-order.
But we are not so much fixed as we are grown. And that has certain implications. It takes more time to grow than to be fixed. I should remember that when I think that God is nonresponsive to my pleas. (“Scott, I have heard you and am working on this, but it is going to take a while.”) Being fixed is something done for me as I sift through old magazines and drink stale coffee. But being grown is something done with me. I must participate in ways that are healthy for my soul. Being fixed points only to a problem; something that needs repair. Growth focuses beyond the problem. Growing whispers to me that there are joys yet unexplored, discoveries that will delight and a state of being that my soul can expand into. Fixed things may break repeatedly. But that which is grown has hope for a better future. We grow out of immature patterns and put aside childish things.
While the impatience of my heart cries for God to fix me; it is a blessing of grace to be grown by His Spirit. It is an expression of love for God to patiently shape us rather than just repair us. Imagine the impact if we responded to one another with the same grace.
