by Emily Conrad

Last summer, my dad and I took cuttings from some succulents. After plenty of failures, we finally succeeded in sprouting new plants.

Over the winter months, the baby succulents have been slowly coming into their own. I transferred them into a planter with some established succulents, creating a little garden.

I used Miracle-Gro cactus and succulent soil and placed the planter next to a window for sunlight.

Now that a few weeks have passed, the leaves of the itty bitty succulents seem larger. And don’t the stems stand higher compared to the others than they did before?

I snapped a picture this morning so that in a few more weeks, when I’m wondering if the plants are really growing or if it’s my imagination, I’ll have a way to compare.

Because that’s the thing with change.

Even when growth happens “fast,” it occurs in tiny increments.

In the hurry and bustle, in the day-to-day maintenance, we don’t see it. Until, one day, we do.

Look, I am about to do something new.
Now it begins to happen! Do you not recognize it?
Yes, I will make a road in the wilderness
and paths in the wastelands.
Isaiah 43:19, NET

As believers, we love that verse, but why do we need it?

Why do we so easily overlook the new things God is doing?

Often change and growth happen in such small increments, we’re blind to it. We don’t understand the subtle change of the wind that will bring rain to the desert or the fresh shoot that will grow into a massive tree.

We discount the little developments that will result in a significant difference over time.

Believer, take courage.

Christ has done so much more to ensure our success for us than I’ve done for my little plants.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. Ephesians 1:3, NET

In Jesus, we have every spiritual blessing. Talk about being planted in rich soil and set up for success.

Not necessarily the kinds of success the world looks for, but the kind that will matter from now into eternity.

Even if you don’t see a big difference between last year, last month, yesterday, as long as you’re growing closer to Christ, you’re growing in ways that matter.

In ways that will result in a transformed life over time.

In ways that will impact eternity.

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