Maturity: Be able to stick with a job until it
is finished. Be able to bear an injustice without having to get even. Be able
to carry money without spending it. Do your duty without being supervised. – Ann Landers
Consider
this story told by Bernard L. Brown, Jr., president of the Kennestone Regional
Health Care System in the state of Georgia. Brown once worked in a hospital
where a patient knocked over a cup of water, which spilled on the floor beside
the patient's bed. The patient was afraid he might slip on the water if he got
out of the bed, so he asked a nurse's aide to mop it up. The patient didn't
know it, but the hospital policy said that small spills were the responsibility
of the nurse's aides while large spills were to be mopped up by the hospital's
housekeeping group.The nurse's aide decided the spill was a large one and she
called the housekeeping department. A housekeeper arrived and declared the
spill a small one. An argument followed.
"It's
not my responsibility," said the nurse's aide, "because it's a large
puddle." The housekeeper did not agree. "Well, it's not mine,"
she said, "the puddle is too small."
The exasperated patient
listened for a time, then took a pitcher of water from his night table and
poured the whole thing on the floor. "Is that a big enough puddle now for
you two to decide?" he asked. It was, and that was the end of the
argument.[1]
We
have all heard the age-old advice of parents tell the child in no uncertain
terms “grow up!” Usually the parent will say it in a tone that rings with a
sense of urgency that the sooner it happens the better. Immaturity is costly
and reduces the effectiveness of a person and a church. We
create all kinds of problems by saying immature things, by making immature
decisions, by acting in immature ways. The result is hurt feelings, loss of
friendships, division in families and churches, and ultimately the loss of
effectiveness in winning the world to Christ. We have all seen the impatient
action of a person swerving wildly and giving us hand signals as they passed us
to then notice the “I love Jesus” bumper sticker. The immature behavior of that
person ruined the witness of the bumper sticker. I believe we all have walked
away from situations too many times saying to ourselves “why did I say that?”
However, as we mature, those frustrated times should become less and less.
Growing older is inevitable but growing up is an
option! Spiritual maturity takes time, effort, and humility. It is not arrived
at accidently but on purpose. No one arrives at maturity over night. It is a
lifestyle of diligence in creating my future by each decision I make. Maturity
should be a goal of life. We don’t think of it as a goal; we think of owning a
house, a career, having children, and retirement as goals but without maturity,
none of these things will truly be appreciated, or in many cases, even
achieved.
What is maturity? It means to be fully developed, full
grown, and able to fulfill its created purpose. It’s being able to balance the short term gains
against the long term consequences. Growing up is the process of leaving
your childhood behind, embracing adulthood and all it represents such as
responsibility and an awareness that you are not the center of the universe.
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