3 Points to Ponder
- “Meeting new people expands your worldview in unique ways. How are you being intentional about meeting new people?”
- “To be able to grow in all circumstances is one of life’s secrets as there is rarely going to be a time when life is perfect. What does growth look like for you in your current season?”
- “Many times, it takes time to grow good fruit. Where do you need to be patient?”
2 Quotes to Share
“Often, the best growth comes in the valleys.” -Marvin J. Ashton
“All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys get too low.” -John Wooden
1 Story of Impact
Earlier this week, I had a long conversation with a pastor from Pakistan. I’m always interested to hear what is happening around the world from first-hand sources as so much of our news is filtered through biased media. As you can imagine with Afghanistan being a bordering neighbor, extremist numbers are increasing every day in his country. He made a sticky statement, paraphrasing Billy Graham, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. “In life, the mountain top experiences are great for sight-seeing, but the fruit is grown in the valley.” He knows hard times are coming his way, even the potential of being killed for holding true to his beliefs. He also knows real work is done in the hard times, producing something far better than the mountain top experience. Each of us needs that mountain top experience to ignite (or sometimes reignite) our vision. But, we can’t stay there as the real work is done in the valley. In the tough places. In the hard circumstances. Where do you need to continue to work “in the valley” in your life? Are you trying to flee the valley, circumventing the fruit being grown in that harder place? I pray for my new pastor friend from Pakistan as his faith encourages me in my life circumstances. He was able to share his fruit from his valley with me. Where are you able to share your fruit with someone this week?
