These few weeks are big weeks for many families here at Southwest. For some parents, you will be sending a child to school for that first day of kindergarten. For lots of our families, it’s another year of the annual cycle between summer vacations and the return to routine. Some will be taking that first day of school picture for the last time as kids enter their senior year. Others will say goodbye to kids who are heading off to college, even though that first day of kindergarten may seem like it was yesterday. In life we are continually growing. As Wendell Ingram reminded us last Wednesday night, Jesus grew and we are growing both physically and spiritually. The story of a young Jesus amazing people at the temple ends with this statement in Luke 2:52. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

Throughout scripture we see stories of people who grow in their faith, and we are given instruction and examples along the way to learn how to grow ourselves. There is a good foundation for our growth and learning in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Said another way, integrate God and His word into daily life. As He becomes more a part of our regular experiences and conversations, we will continue to grow in Him. As we begin another school year, let’s see it as another opportunity to grow.

Whether you are at one of these stages or if those stages are memories to you, our church family walks alongside you as we all grow in life together.

– Brian