Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

Change and maturity come very slowly and subtly. I have found that out the past year. This past year has been an encouraging year of growing in the Lord and growing in maturity. I think the turning point for me was graduation. At my graduation we had a mic where people (either the student or the parents) could say something about either the student or parents. I surprised everyone after getting my diploma by going to the mic and honoring my parents. Now, that may just sound like a thing anybody would do, but this was something different for me. You see, I had planned up to that day to go to the mic and make a fool of myself, which would have been the normal thing for me. Instead, something inside me told me that was foolish and I shouldn't do it.
Since then, I have grown extremely. All thanks has to be to God because I could have never done it by myself. It's all His Grace that we grow at all. I have had a couple people comment on my new found maturity and growth over the past few months. It has been encouraging to see God at work in my life.
I am reminded of the David Crowder song, "Wholly Yours":
"I am full of earth. You are heaven's worth. I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity... But a certain sign of grace is this: From the broken earth flowers come up pushing through the dirt."
I have faith that the next year will be no different. I still have a lot of room to grow! So, thanks be to God for maturing me into the man he wants me to be! Ok, enough about myself.