#Grow

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy. What's up everybody? So listen, this is episode 8 of season 4. We're gonna call this one Grow, simply that, Grow, episode 8, Grow. The reason why is because I had put up a status a few days ago and it was just inspired by Bob Goff and it was saying, move away from much of the comfort you've worked so hard to create. #Grow. Move away from much of the comfort you've worked so hard to create. What does that look like? What does that mean? Well, in the context of my life, it has been times that I have worked my— I feel like worked my butt off and I reached place in life. Of course, you know, I'm a person of faith, so I do believe God has given me the ability to do this, and he left some things up to me, but I'm empowered through him to do it. And if you're not a person of faith, that's fine. I believe, like I say, these principles will translate in any area of life. But with me, a lot of times we can get trapped in complacency, we can get trapped in hitting a goal, or just— John C. Maxwell put it this way, be careful of always just setting goals without personal growth, a dedication to personal growth, because you can hit a goal and not— and stop your growth. It flatlines. But if you're dedicated to personal growth, you find a balance to keep using goals to grow, if that makes sense. And so with me, like I say, you know, it's times in my life that I'm like, okay, I want to be here. I'm going to strive to grow myself through the power of God. And reach this area, whatever that area looks like, whether it's financially, professionally, personal, business-related, you know, spiritual, most importantly, uh, family dynamic, whatever you want to throw on it, because life is multifaceted. It's many different areas. We're just not in one facet of life. And so once that is achieved and I'm in that space or that area, um, sometimes we can get comfortable because like, okay, I've arrived, and things things can just stop. And so because we look at it and we justify it and say, well, I've really worked hard to get here— and I'm not saying enjoy it, not like— look at most great championship teams when they work so hard and they achieve that goal of winning it all. And all the players, you know, that they're, they're dedicating themselves to their development, their professional development, sports development, whatever you want to use, and they win. Depending on the coach, depending on the philosophy, those players, they celebrate it, they have a parade, so on and so on. But in a matter of time, they know if they want to repeat, if they want to be back here again, they have to get back into the process. They have to say, okay, we're going— we're— we can't just stay here, because if we just stay here and reminisce on this all throughout next season and then the next season of our life, we're going to get our butt kicked. We're going to get ran off the field of court every single time. And so I believe, like, in that fan example, like, that's how we have to look at it in our life. And another, another thing I believe too, before we kind of get into our foundational text, is that when we look at a baby— and I'm not a doctor or anything like that, but it doesn't take a rocket science to figure out— as a baby grows, things change. Its diet and everything from like the foods it eats and so on and so on, the things that it does, it changes. Right now with my 11-year-old, my oldest son, and my youngest, my 8-year-old, um, I believe if I— they came home today or whatever and I had prepared and just had bottles out, bottles with that baby food stuff that, you know, you can go buy, just all mushed up and stuff like that, uh, mashed up or whatever, um, and I set it on the table and said, this is what you are going to start having for dinner. And then after that, you know, I tell them, okay, let me change you, let me put you in your clothes, and you know, tuck you into bed and, you know, read you, you know. I'm not saying don't read to kids, I'm just saying like really just treat them like a baby. Like, okay, no, don't touch that, don't get up out the bed, you know. And just like put them in a crib, you know, or something like that. I don't think I would make it the first 2 minutes without my kids borderline basically like, okay, Dad, we about to disrespect you, uh, because like it's— I'm treating them, I'm treating them, treating them, uh, where they don't live at anymore. In other words, it's like the version— that version of them no longer exists because they have matured and they have grown into— they went through the toddler phase and then, you know, just like up until like moving into teenagers. And so I'm trying to treat them like they were first— like they first came into the world as newborns, and that's just not happening. And We can see it in that example, but what about when we look at it in the context of our life? You know, are we still a toddler? Are we still a newborn baby? You know, has 5 years went by and you're still doing toddler things in the context of your life? Like, are you, you know, still like not hitting goals that you might have had on the list for 5 years? So you haven't even matured to that point to say, okay, I can truly say that I'm here now. Do you have— are you dedicated to personal growth, whether it's your fitness, your financial goals, like I say, spiritual, uh, whatever, personal development, professional development, whether you're in sports or just whatever that might be? Like I say, we said life is multifaceted, but if you take that example as a baby, as a child, are you there? Because oftentimes, you know, and like I said, in the context of our life We have heard the saying, age doesn't always produce maturity. Meaning, in other words, is that just because you're getting older doesn't mean that you're getting, you're getting more mature in life. That's just age. And I believe it was John C. Maxwell that said it best. I believe I heard this quote from him. He said that it is possible to change and not grow, but it is impossible to grow and not change. And so What that is saying is that like if you're growing in life, you are— change is a byproduct of that. But if you're changing things, that's not about growth, it's not a byproduct of that. And I do believe it's true because I believe things can change and, you know, we can do certain things. Like for example, I can go to a whole nother state, uh, whatever, go halfway across the world and haven't just I dedicated myself to really growing and changing. And so therefore, like, yes, I changed my environment, but I never started growing. And so therefore, things change, but it's still no growth, if that makes sense. And so I think that we have to truly look at that. And even in the spiritual context, um, scripture— we are commanded in scripture to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are commanded to, and you can read it in 2 Peter 3:18. And this growth is spiritual growth. It's growing in faith, growing faith to faith. I understand the examples of, you know, if we just have faith the size of a mustard seed. I truly understand it in its proper context, but we should be growing faith to faith. We should be developing in those areas, developing in God, and truly trusting the things that he has called us to do. And even though, like I said, if you're not a person of faith, if you're just secular I have a real good quote. Matter of fact, it's like a little paragraph. I'm gonna read it. I'm gonna read it with some personality, as my wife say. But it's from— it's from Jim Rohn, and it's something that I have really, really held on to my life and reflected. And I believe I first came across this in one of his videos on YouTube, maybe about 2015 or '16 or so. And so it says that the essence of life is growth. To do and be the best you can. Here's what's interesting. Humans are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can. Humans are the only life form that will settle for less. Every other life form except human beings strive to its maximum capacity. How tall will a tree grow? Approximately as tall as it possibly can. You've never heard of a tree growing half as high as it could. No, trees don't grow half. Trees send their roots down deep as possible, stretch their limbs up high as possible, and produce every leaf as possible. It's always a choice to be part of what you can be or all that you can be. And I know we can talk about the Army, be all that you can, but, uh, in the context of this, what he's saying is that you have a choice. God has giving you everything that you need. It is a disgrace to God. And I was just talking to my, my dad and my wife about this, that I believe that the gifts that God has given us has called us to cultivate and nurture. He's given them to us, but we have to plug in. We have to do the necessary things and use these gifts to have advanced the kingdom of God, to help others in this world, and to move things forward, because he's not coming down here to do what he's instructed us to do. And so I believe that it's a disgrace when we just sit on those gifts because we say, I don't want to use them. Well, God gave them to you, not for you. He gave them to work through you in order to bless other peoples— other people, I'm sorry, not peoples, but other people. And so, um, in that context, I believe that it is a disgrace. And it's challenging to me too because it's like I'm saying that, or we get caught up on other people growing in their gifts, and we miss what God has called us to do. And so now we're not growing because we're so focused on what he gave them. Them— listen, that's between you and God, but you have to find those things. You have to do the due diligence, and you have to grow and mature in those areas. Remember, you're not just going to grow by default. I believe growth is— it's not automatic. I believe growth is, you know, now in the context of life, you know, like I said, a child— a child is going to grow but they might not be changing. You think about a child that they never learn to read, if they never learn to do math, just basic things, never take English courses, but they just grow and we leave them to their own devices, but they don't have access to TV, they can't— I believe that it would be very hard for that child to communicate, very hard for that child to even talk on a level to tell you what they need. Now, their body, their physical body has grown, but nothing has changed about them. So you can go anywhere with that, but growth is not necessarily automatic when it comes to development and things like that, is what I'm trying to say. So certain structures and things might change, but what about the development of the mind, the development of will, the development of the heart, and just so on and so on? And when I'm not talking about like heart as in the context of just our internal organs, I'm talking about heart just that, that dog mentality to do what God has called us to do. To say, listen, every single day, God called me to do this, so I'm going to develop in confidence in the areas of him in order to, to achieve these things. Because oftentimes, like I say, we are basically living in the context of the example I gave of if I gave my kids baby food when they walked into the house today. You know, it's still goals on your thing, uh, personal goals that you wrote 5 years ago that you start and you keep starting over every year and you never hit. It's— and this, this goes for me too. It's things that in life that, yeah, you have gotten older, you might be doing little things here and there, but you're not doing them with the full, um, level of maturity that you need to do them. You haven't really truly matured in them, so you're stagnant. You, you're being faked out because you work on them a little bit, but then they just go away. Ouch, it's for me too. And so you have to be dedicated to personal growth. You have to. And I believe John C. Maxwell, uh, in the 15 Laws— and I believe it's the 15 Laws of Valuable Growth, and it might be another book— but he really unpacks this concept of goals versus personal growth. And he's not necessarily putting them against each other, but he's just showing how they have to have a tandem relationship. Because if you just do goals alone like I say, sometimes the growth can stop. So you have to be dedicated to growing. And another thing I believe we have to look at in, in the context of, of growth is that just because, like, we're capable of being something doesn't mean that we were made to do that particular thing. So in other words, is that, like, you know, we might say, okay, well, I have the capabilities to do this, But did God call you to do that thing? Because you want to be in that space that God truly called you to do, those passions. And we talked about this, like, you know, what are you passionate about and what are you good at? What are you truly good at, naturally good at? And then, um, how do you develop in it? How do you start honing those things in through the grace of God and just, just moving, moving, becoming a better person day by day, day in and day out? Because we are moving targets. We're not— we are not going to be who we used to be or who we were a year ago if we are dedicated to growth. Because if everything stays the same, then we will never get to a new version of us. Never. So that, like, you might— we really truly probably— God can say right now, I'm 31 years old, and let's just say if it's God say, okay, you supposed to be on version 31, but I'm still on version 20 of myself. Now thank God for his grace and mercy, but just, just think about that. What if God said, okay, you supposed to be on version 31, but so you're 31 years old but you're still on version 20 of yourself? So when people make quotes like that and say like, well, you, you're not where you're supposed to be, I think that's a fair statement. Now I do believe that God, grace and mercy, him being who he is, I do believe God can accelerate things. I think he can do more when we truly step into that knowledge and our identity. He's God. I believe he can do it. If you don't believe in him, hey, that's you. Uh, but from a secular standpoint, I think people can just hit that switch and like, you know, the mental part, and like they just go all in. They like, they're literally to even no sleep or whatever because they're like, hey, listen, I gotta, I gotta— I'm not necessarily saying you can make up time, but I need to do more with the time that I have now versus what I did with it, you know, basically just going through life, just floating and just drifting through life. And so spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. It's growth in general, is just— it's the essence of life. It's being more. It's upgrading the version of you just every moment it can. Every time I'm stepping into this new person, I'm stepping into this new being. And it's— it's— and I believe that it's biblical as well. I truly believe that it is. Because I believe that in this body, to be truthful, we're always— sin is always going to be present. So we're always going to have to deal with certain things until our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns and we're caught up with him and we're in our new glorified bodies. But as long as we're on this earth, sin is— it's like, listen, this flesh is always going to be present. And so therefore, we're always going to have just things, you know, sinful behavior, sinful things that want to rise, that, you know, and some people like to say, like, you know, issues here and there, and I get that context, but at the end of the day, sin is always going to be present. But we have dominion over that because of the Holy Spirit. And so we have to really look at it in the context of saying, okay, I have the Holy Spirit, I have God, the power of the living God living within me, it's indwelling in me, and I'm feeding my spirit more than I'm feeding my flesh. And so I'm going to grow spiritually. And I believe truly, when you are growing spiritually, you are growing everywhere you need to grow in life, if you're truly growing spiritually. And it's gonna— and growth is uncomfortable sometimes. Look at weightlifters and weight trainers, or people like I say that, you know, switch healthy lifestyles that want to just grow in their diet and eat more, like eat healthy, and so on and so on. Or when I was working with my kids now in basketball taking him to the gym literally every day, uh, up until like championship weekend, working out. It was uncomfortable because it's like, you know, you're missing it. I'm like, this is why we practice, this is why we're doing what we're doing. We're dedicated. And then it shows up when you need it to. It shows up what you needed to because you have been putting in the work. So people can look at you and say, yeah, yeah, he's been in the gym. Yeah, yeah, they have been eating healthy. You don't have to keep saying it. You don't have to keep saying— like right now, if I say, yeah, I'm in the gym, I'm in the gym, and I'm, man, I'm benching this now, I'm benching that, and I'm just talking to different people on the phone. They haven't seen me, and then 7 months later I still look the same when they first see me. Hey, it's the same thing in our life, but it's not tangible, so therefore it's a little bit harder to see because the growth is internal. And but true enough, like I say, just give it time. I do believe that as we keep talking and as we keep doing things, people will start to see. Although it's not— and maybe I should say this— probably we don't see it as quickly as tangible things, but it will be visible eventually. And so just ask yourself, man, are you truly dedicated to growing? I really hope this episode made sense. I really hope that it unpacked. I hope it challenges you to say, okay, listen, yes, I understand my goals and I need to set those, but I need to be dedicated to growth in my personal life. I need to grow and become the best version of myself through the power of God. I need to grow in everything in my Lord and Savior. I just need to grow. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www.timothypratt.org. Once again, thanks.