grown-up

fiction: age plus life experience ALWAY equals maturity

fact: age and life experience make acts of immaturity WAY more obvious

i thought that graduating, getting married, and working in a church community would put me in a new place, far away from the immaturity associated with some aspects of the college life. i was an RD for three years, so i think i've seen every possible act of male immaturity known to Buies Creek. it was ok at the time, but i'm trying to move past that, right?

well... i think i've just been forced to realize that immature actions and attitudes can come from ANYwhere... not just adolescent males. There are persons in my church community, with whom i have spent significant time (i think) and with whom i have developed pretty good relationships... but even still, immaturity exists. and like the fact/fiction statements at the top, immature actions and attitudes just seem SO much more silly in adults, since we expect maturity on all fronts!

before you get ready to point fingers at my finger-pointing, let me say that i am fully aware of my own lapses into immaturity, but usually in hindsight rather than in the moment. for those who have experienced this, i apologize! i have the feeling that marriage will shape me into a more mature minister, one way or another :-)

anyways - the "she said what about whom" kinds of comments do not cease after graduating college... harmful assumptions are whispered or e-mailed without regard for the more mature ways of dealing with the pertinent issues... and of course this is nothing new (there is nothing new under the sun), i just hoped for something different. let it be a sobering reminder to me, and anyone reading, that real spiritual/emotional maturity comes from seeking to glorify God, who reconciles us through the person of Jesus, as described in the gospel and the scriptures.