Growing pains

My son today accidentally killed a caterpillar. I can tell he was bothered by this. He hadn't seen where the caterpillar was while he was sharpening a stick. Now he has moved to another spot after briefly mourning the life he has taken. 

Growing pains come in all sorts of ways into our lives. They can cause is everything from mild discomfort to deep grief. The challenge is not to look for relief from the pain too quickly otherwise we may find that later the pain returns. 

In John's gospel Jesus heals a man who was born blind (John 9). The man is put through a whole series of grilling by the religious authorities. They even question the mans parents. In all this the man doesn't take the easy way out and agree with them. He stands by the facts he knows and in the end professes his belief in who Jesus is. To do this I'm sure caused much personal pain and turmoil in his life. In the end he grows to a new level of understanding. 

We too can experience this growth leading us to another level of understanding in our own spiritual development. The question always is do we live through and really feel the growing pains. We have a culture that tells us we don't have to endure pain and we look to alleviate it quickly. Sometimes it is only in going through it that we can truly grow. Let us face our growing pains with the faith and courage that God will see us through.