Dear All,
A young guy came to me and said, “I wanted to have a better life.., but I don’t know how?” Wow, what a great start!
No doubt about it, I think everyone wanted to have a better life, isn’t it? However, I think the hardest part is how or where
to start. Well, my answer is simple: I believe that those who wanted to have a better life must first seek to become a
better person…
Let us start on how does a child speak? A child speaks to ask for things. A child speaks about wanting and wishing. A
child says, “Give me!” A child says, “I want!” And a child says, “I need.” In short, a child only talks about “himself or
herself!” (Sounds familiar?) Now, let’s see how a child thinks? Everyone will agree that a child thinks in small terms. A
child thinks of a world roughly his size, a size he can comprehend and manage. A child thinks about small spaces and
about short spans of time. A child has a short attention span and a very short patience too. The concept of time and
waiting depends on his size. In short, a child thinks “small and short!” (Sounds familiar?) Meantime, how does a child
understands or makes reason? Perhaps something like this: “Oops, I’ve done something I was not supposed to do –
but it’s not my fault! I got away with it, and everything is cool! As long as I’m fine, I don’t care!” Wow! In short, a child’s
understanding is, “It’s always others’ fault!” (Sounds familiar?)
Hmm, with the above, I believe the first step in becoming a better person is to “grow-up!”
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:11
Without a doubt, most of the problems in the world today are due to “immaturity.” We get ourselves into all kinds of
problems and troubles due to five immature means: (1) thinking immature thoughts; (2) saying immature things; (3)
making immature judgments; (4) choosing immature decisions; (5) and acting in immature ways! It’s very important that
we must grow-up…
There was this story of a teenager and on his sixteenth birthday he approached his father and said, “Dad, I’m sixteen
now. When I get my license, can I drive the family car?” His dad looked at him and said, “Son, driving the car takes
maturity, and first, you must prove that you are responsible enough. And one way you must do that is to bring up your
grades. They are not acceptable. Second, you must read the Bible every day. And finally, you must get that hair cut; it
looks outrageous.” The son began the task of fulfilling his father’s requirements, except for the last knowing that cutting
his hair is the last thing he would do. When his grades came out, he went to his dad with a big smile. “Look, Dad, all A’s
and B’s on my report card. Now can I drive the family car?” “Very good, son. You are one-third of the way there, but have
you been reading the Bible?” the father replied. “Yes, Dad, every day,” said the son. “Very good son. You are two-thirds of
the way there. Now when are you going to get that hair cut?” The son, thinking that he could out smart the father,
responded, “Well, I don’t see why I should get my hair cut to drive the car. Jesus had long hair, didn’t he?” The father
looked at his boy and said, “That is very true son, but remember Jesus just walked everywhere he went.. He didn’t need a
car!”
So, what is maturity? Maturity is not age – it has nothing to do with how long you’ve lived. You can be fifty years and yet not
be mature. I’ve seen some 60 and 70 year old kids (if you know what I mean!). Maturity is not appearance – some people
just look mature. Maturity has nothing to do with achievement – what you accomplished. You can accomplish a lot and
still be very immature. Maturity has nothing to do with academics – how many degrees you’ve gotten or how much
education you’ve gotten and still act immature. (When I graduated from high school I thought I knew it all. Then I went to
college – the more I don’t know!)
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 2:5
GOD says maturity is attitude. Attitude is what makes the difference! “Recognition” is what people say about you, but your
“character” is what GOD says about you. Bottom line, it’s your attitude that determines whether you’re mature or not!
We know that life means having problems, and part of life means solving problems and learning to face them with the
right attitude. What is your natural attitude or your natural reaction when things don’t go your way? Are you negative or are
you positive? Are you part of the solution or are you part of the problem? Are you basically a supportive person or are you
a skeptical person? Is your life filled with gratitude or grumbling? Are you hopeful or are you bitter?
D. L. Moody said, “Character is what you are in the dark.” I say, “Maturity is what you are when no one is looking!”
Here’s an ancient story with a beautiful lesson. Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and
knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children,
he decided to do something different. He called all the young people in the kingdom. He said, “It has come time for me to
step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.” The kids were shocked! But the
emperor continued. “I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go
home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I
will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!” There was
one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told
his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it
carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths
began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his
seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing! By now others were talking about
their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just
knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his
friends. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their
plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged
him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he trusted his
mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown
by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the
other kids laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey, nice try.” When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the
room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. “Wow, what great plants, trees and flowers you
have grown,” said the emperor. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!” All of a sudden, the emperor
spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified.
“The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!” When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his
name. “My name is Ling,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to
quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling
couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, “One
year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But
I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.
When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one
with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the only one mature enough to be the
new emperor!” (Adopted from “In The Garden with Jesus” by Tiziana Ruff.)
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be
dishonest with much.” – Luke 16:10
It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. What matters is what GOD thinks of you! At the end of each the day, you
should be able to rewind and review your performance, and the result should either applaud you or teach you!
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
– 2 Peter 3:18
In His grace,
-p.a. <><
