The Pond

My husband and I recently decided to give away the two big dogs that were living in our backyard because we were spending way too much money on a couple of animals we hardly spend time with. Once the animals had been vacated, the backyard looked almost sad with large potholes the size of small cars, crooked brush, and dead grass. Not sure what to do with the large hole closest to our house, my husband and I decided to line it and make it a small pond. Yes, the hole was that big. After transplanting a few straggling plants, adding a new pump and a couple of aquatic plants, we had completed the first step in reclaiming our pathetic little back yard.

A couple of days went by and while we really enjoyed the peaceful sounds of the waterfall and the paw print-free glass on our back door it started to feel like something was missing so we decided to add fish to our little pond. I did the research thinking that Koi were the way to go but was floored by the cost of the even a single fish. In the end we decided to go with a few common goldfish, hearty, colorful, and $.27 a piece. I was kind of miffed at first because the half inch long fish didn't look too promising when the clerk pulled them out of the aquarium but he assured us that they would grow and multiply quickly. "How big will they get?" I inquired. "Oh, 'bout 12 to 14 inches" the clerk replied as he tied off the plastic bag, "These guys are lucky that you are putting them in a big pond because they will be able to reach their full potential." You see, what I never knew is that goldfish only grow as big as their tank so that when put in a small one-gallon tank they will never grow bigger than the half inch at which they began but when put in a large 100-gallon pond, like the one in our backyard, they will quickly grow to be rather large, established fish.

Isn't the same true of us spiritually? Fresh out of the waters of baptism as newborn Christians we are eager and on fire for the cause of Christ but unless we continue to learn and grow and be challenged in our faith we will never fully grow into the mature Christians God intended us to be. How do you make sure your pond is "big enough" to reach your full-potential?

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14

Your thoughts?