Maturing

Maturing is the process of getting to know our inner self, the core of who we really are.  When we find our true selves, our very center, we find God.  Sometimes, it is a process of wandering away from our center, of making mistakes, and then of discovering what effect the mistakes have on us.  If we do not defend the wrong choice, but admit that it was wrong, we can find our way back to "true north," or to our central truth.

In a recent speech, the Pope said that those who meditate cleanse themselves of sin---how true!  To meditate is to spend time with ourselves, to allow all the things we have stuffed down deep in ourselves to emerge for observation.  We give God permission to bring to the surface the things we might have been reluctant to face about ourselves---but when He brings those things to the surface, it is not to condemn, but to heal, us.  Jesus told Peter that if he (Peter) did not allow Jesus to wash his feet, he (Peter) would have nothing to do with Jesus.  Peter's reply, "Well, then, Lord, not only my feet, but my head, hands, whole body."  You gotta love Peter! 

God allowed Peter to face the truth that he was the greatest sinner of all time---he betrayed the love and friendship and trust of Jesus Himself.  But now, having faced the truth about himself, Peter was ready to hold out his hand to every other sinner, knowing that no one else would ever match Peter's own weakness in time of temptation and trial.  Now he was eminently qualified to lead the church, knowing that Christ, not Peter, was its head.

Sometimes our greatest wrong choices lead us to the greatest strengths.